XCOM: The Unknown Menace
by Hobbes
Summary: This is my take on the story of the First Alien War (1999-2003), following the plot of UFO Defense. THE STORY IS COMPLETE - Warning: Some of the reviews contain major spoilers!
1. Prologue

**DISCLAIMER: This fan fiction story is based on elements from the X-Com computer games series, which is a trademark belonging to Infogames (or Firaxis, according to the latest rumors on the Internet). It has been written for recreational purposes for free distribution. Please do not change the text in any way without the author's permission or use any of the elements and characters contained in the text. **

**CONTACT: I can be reached through the following email: aadlg@rocketmail.com or through ICQ (10332434) or MSN Messenger (chemsmi@hotmail.com). Please feel free to contact me regarding any comments on the story. Either being positive or negative, they'll be much appreciated and they're the only reward I'm getting out of all this work. **

**THANKS: To all the people that have supported me while I was writing this book and to the readers that emailed me their comments. And also Julian and Nick Gollop and the rest of the team that designed games like Rebelstar, Laser Squad and X-Com, because of all the enjoyment I received over the years by playing them. And please keep up the good work. :) **

André Galvão 

X-Com: The Unknown Menace

Prologue

December 17th, 1946

USS _Philippine Sea_, South Atlantic

Although it was summer on the southern hemisphere, the United States Army Air Force officer that was near one of the elevators on the flight deck of the _Essex _class aircraft carrier had chosen to wear his flight jacket since the temperatures had been dropping as the fleet moved south towards its destination. 

The man, who seemed to be in his early thirties, had a smooth face and light eyes, with his nose and ears starting to turn reddish from the cold air outside. The weather was a bit cloudy and it was the first sign to the fleet of gray ships that things were about to get rougher in their mission. The _Philippine Sea_ was the largest ship of the sixteen vessels that made up the task force. Besides the combat escorts it included tenders for seaplanes and tankers, together with a Coast Guard icebreaker that had been rushed from California to be included in the force. 

Looking at the deck of the carrier and seeing his own plane, he shook his head in frustration. He couldn't understand the reasoning behind the Navy's decision to send a dedicated task force of nearly five thousand men to such an extreme place. And it annoyed him even more that his superior officers hadn't deemed him to be important enough for him to know the reasons of the mission. He had fought a number of operations in the war as a part of the OSS, the more general name for the Office of Strategic Services that had been  retired last year. But now that the war was over it seemed as if the politicians were bent on getting rid of all things military. The inter-military branch agency that had been responsible for espionage and secret military missions through the war had been dismantled last year and he had barely managed to stay attached to what remained of it. However nowadays the Army seemed to be in a hurry to get rid of every soldier and officer in its ranks. 

He wore golden seven-sided leaves on the collars of his shirt that had almost disappeared completely into the inside of his thick flying jacket. Normally, he'd be considered a bit too young for the rank of major but the war had given him several chances for promotion. However he hadn't missed any of the action since the Battle of Britain in 1940 where he had volunteered to fight for the Royal Air Force. By the time of the United States' entry into the war at the end of 1941 he was one of the top US fighter pilots. And the Pentagon had been really quick about assigning him to the newly formed OSS, which badly needed veteran combat pilots. To his surprise he had found out that the other half of his work there, which was related to intelligence, started to be the one which attracted him the most. The information, that had been revealed to him, gave him a view of how military decisions where made based upon intelligence along with his realization of just how fallible the system could be also. 

And in the case of operation High Jump, he was still wondering what the people at the Pentagon and the White House were thinking about when they called the mission. They were had been ordered to conduct a survey of Antarctica and perform military exercises to provide information about combat in those conditions. It simply didn't make any sense to him to be here. 

His attention turned to one of the planes parked at one of the ends of the deck, which was completely clear of personnel and stood attached by cables to the floor. The converted DC-3 cargo planes hadn't been originally designed to be flown off carriers but from long runways on land. However since the Navy's seaplanes didn't have the necessary range to reach the inner areas of the pole safely, the DC-3s had been equipped with rocket pods strapped to their wings in addition to their engines, in order to allow taking-off from the short deck. And they were also equipped with large skis to land on the airstrip that would be built on the land by the Navy Seabee construction crews that had been brought for the mission. Underneath the flight deck there were six brand new 'helicopters' or whatever the new rotating flying machines were called, together with a small force of Navy fighters and dive-bombers. 

The officer suspected that there were unofficial reasons for the inclusion of combat aircraft and vessels in the force. At the end of the war in Europe strange reports had started coming in from the South Atlantic concerning large movements of German submarines heading for an unknown destination. And after Germany's surrender further support for the sightings had been found in the Kriegsmarine's logs that failed to report a number of U-Boats. Also there were rumors in the OSS that a number of high-ranking Nazi officers had evaded capture by the Allies at the end of the war and were still at large. He tried enquiring the personnel of the Office of Naval Intelligence that was present at the task force, but to no avail. The officers had simply refused to answer any of his questions and had refused to further comment on the matter citing secrecy laws. But the worst part had been the arrogance and pettiness in their tone of voice. Although both the ONI and the OSS had worked together during the war it hadn't been without points of conflict between the two  organizations, with much jealousy and egoism present on both sides. And now the Navy officers were simply ignoring him and the dead OSS, in no doubt getting revenge for old grudges. 

As he started walking down the flight deck and heading towards the mess hall, the officer looked at the setting Sun that was giving mixed color tones to the white clouds overhead. The Moon was also starting to appear on the horizon, glowing white. A mix of excitement and fear passed through him. _Well, soon we'll all discover what's the real reason behind all of this. _

February 25th, 1947

Ross Sea, Antarctica

Leisurely cruising at 250 knots per hour the converted cargo plane was flying over the Antarctic coastline at a height of four thousand feet. The ski-equipped DC-3 had been painted in a new white and gray artic camouflage and was now standing over the packs of icebergs that littered the waters close to the massive white and blue glaciers. Its cargo section, forming the main body of the plane, had been adapted to carry photographic and other survey equipment, leaving just enough room left for a number of technicians to operate the machines.  

The Major and the co-pilot completed the rest of the crew for this mission. They had taken off from the improvised landing strip at first light and now were following the coastline until the point at which they would turn inland into inner Antarctica. Both men were seated inside the cockpit of the craft, still dressed into winter parkas since the plane wasn't pressurized. 

So far operation 'High Jump' had been a success. The naval task force was able to enter the Ross Sea and land a party at the continent that had later established a provisional base. Then the DC-3s had successfully taken off from the deck of the carrier and land there on the airstrip without incidents. Both them and the seaplanes had now been operating for more than three weeks conducting photographic and weather surveys. And while it was summer, the cold Antarctic weather still took its toil on men and equipment but that was what they had come here for. However there were still some questions that the major hadn't been able to find answers for. 

A number of incidents had taken place since the task force had arrived: Strange lights in the skies that had at first been attributed to boreal auroras. But more unexplainable events had occurred in the past week as one of the destroyer escorts detected the sound of an unidentified submersible object in the proximity of one of the groups. No official explanation had been advanced to explain the contact, which had disappeared as the destroyer was moving to engage it. _And whatever is happening no one at the top seems to have an idea about what it is or how to deal with it!_

It was more than obvious to him that someone was keeping a keen eye on the task force's actions without revealing their identity. The obvious choice would be to give credit to the rumors that a number of Nazi officers had fled from the crumbling German empire at the last stages of the war and had taken refuge on the ice-covered continent. But another alternative was possible: the Soviets. 

There were already a number of disturbing reports about Stalin's intentions about the countries that had been liberated from the Axis powers. Unlike the US Russia wasn't demobilizing its war machine and instead had left its armies in Eastern Europe. And there were reports that the Soviets had used the war to put a network of intelligence officers in the western countries and that Stalin was desperately seeking to develop atomic weapons by every means necessary, including spying on their allies during the war. The dropping of the bombs on the Japanese towns of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in the previous year had destroyed the cities and killed hundreds of thousands of civilians, but it had brought Japan to its knees and forced its unconditional surrender. Another effect of their use had been to reveal to the stunned world that it was possible to built atomic weapons and although the US now had the monopoly there was a high possibility that other nations would be able to replicate its effort. But why would Stalin also be interested in an operation to Antarctica? _No, there's something missing here that all of us involved aren't able to discover. _He wished that he could talk to some of the people that he knew at the former Research and Analysis branch of the OSS but most of them had either left the intelligence field or now worked in the State Department.  However, he doubted that even they had an idea of what was going on. 

As the Major shook his head to try to clear it, his co-pilot looked to him from his chair at the right of the cockpit. "Tired Major?"

He let go of a breath of frustration before replying. "Yeah. You got any smokes there?" As the co-pilot fished a pack out of his flying jacket the Major took the controls of the DC-3, keeping it on a straight course towards the south, which was hard since they had to use a sun compass to determine their bearing. Magnetic compasses were nearly useless this close to the south pole and the landscape didn't help much either, since most of it was composed out of endless plains of white that stretched into the horizon.

The co-pilot dug out two cigarettes along with a Zippo lighter and was about to light them up when his eyebrows fringed for a moment as he was looking at the Major's direction. "What's the problem?"

Taking out the cigarettes from his mouth with one of his hands, the co-pilot pointed across the Major's face in a puzzled voice. "Is that a reflection?"

When the Major looked through the plexiglass window on his left side in response to the co-pilot's query his own eyes grew wide as he picked it up. 

A small green dot of light could be seen in the vivid blue sky. First the Major dismissed it as a light effect of the Sun's rays on the window, but as he rocked his head from one side to the other he discovered that it wouldn't go away. Moreover it seemed to have a solid appearance, as he noticed that he seemed could make out the contours on the green ball as it slowly started to change its form. 

"It's keeping formation with us! What is that thing?!" The co-pilot was now nearly all over the Major as he was bending his body to have a better look at it. Shoving him back to his seat the officer barked an order: "Get back there and have someone take a shot at it with a camera!" _Whatever that is we'll need some sort of proof that it wasn't just the Antarctic sky playing light tricks with two pilots. _

As the co-pilot unhooked himself from his chair, the Major checked the plane's altitude and speed to make sure that they were still on a steady course. He thought of radioing the carrier to report the contact, but as his fingers moved to the transmit button they stopped their motion and instead he gripped the control wheel tighter. 

The ball had resolved itself into what seemed to be an inverted cup. He still couldn't tell how far away or how big it was but those aspects ceased to matter as it suddenly crossed the entire sky in front of him and placed itself on the other side of the plane. _A foo fighter?_

During the war there had been numerous reports of strange flying machines made by the crews of the Allied bombers and fighters on missions over Nazi occupied Europe that could perform impossible maneuvers and fly at unheard of speeds. It had been initially thought that they were advanced German planes, such as the jet fighters that they had deployed at the last stages of the war. However the "lights" had never taken any aggressive actions towards the Allied planes and the OSS and the other intelligence agencies didn't have time to spare in order to investigate what seemed to be weird natural effects. 

"It was gone before we could take a picture!" The disappointment in the co-pilot's voice was obvious as he came back from the cargo section. 

"You idiot! It's on the other side of the plane!" The major barked in reply, still keeping his eyes on the green form. He was now sure that it had to be an artificial object as he had watched it transverse the sky from one side of the cockpit to the other. It kept changing its flight path and performing impossible maneuvers. _It must be watching us also. _It was time that he reported the contact to the _Philippine Sea._ The carrier had a pair of Wildcat fighters on alert status and they could be launched in five minutes after the order was issued. However he doubted that the Navy fighters would be able to do much against the craft that he was seeing. 

A sense of dread came to him as he pressed the transmit button. "Home, this is Seagull Four. I have an unidentified contact…" A loud cracking sound made him stop in the middle of the sentence and his eyes widened in horror as something suddenly flashed and bathed the inside of the plane in a burning light. As the DC-3 suddenly jerked to one side the co-pilot crashed against the hull of the plane, violently banging with his head on a container built into the wall. The Major's restrains kept him in his seat though and he tried to regain control of the plane but the stiffness of the controls told him that they had lost all hydraulic power and couldn't move any of the plane's control surfaces built into its wings and tail. 

"Get the emergency hydraulics going!" The plane was falling in an uncontrolled spiral towards the surface and he watched as the altitude gauge kept dropping from eighteen thousand feet at which they had been flying, to sixteen thousand in a matter of seconds. When no response came from the other man he looked and saw that the co-pilot was lying on the floor, probably unconscious from hitting the wall of the plane. Another glance at the outside told him what had happened to the DC-3. One of its wings had been completely ripped off from whatever had hit them. The Major realized that there was no way they could make an emergency landing, the Major realized and they would hit the ground in less than a minute. 

Unhooking himself from his seat he tried to stabilize himself as he raced to the co-pilot's and checked his condition. Crouched against the wall that separated the cockpit from the cargo area he saw that the man was dead. "What is happening? What hit us?" A voice asked in panic as one of the three technicians managed to reach the door. 

"Get out of here fast!" He hoped that his parachute was still functional as he raced down the length of the cargo section towards the door at the end. As he entered the area holding the photographic equipment the stench of burned flesh briefly caught his attention but he ignored the badly burned cadaver that was against a mass of destroyed equipment near a large hole on where the now lost wing had been attached to the main body. Going over the gap he saw to his surprise that the metal edge of the hole wasn't carved like he had expected but instead it seemed melted instead. The metal was still incredibly hot as he grabbed the sides with both hands and it started burning through his thick gloves though he ignored it. 

Lunging his body forward across the opening he hoped that he still had time to safely deploy his parachute. 

The mangled inside of the plane was quickly replaced by the openness of free falling as he quickly got away from the falling craft. The white ground quickly approached as his hands tried to find the cord to deploy the chute and his mind raced in confusion. _What was that thing?_


	2. The First Tunes

X-Com – The Unknown Menace

Chapter One – The First Tunes

December 9th, 1998

Swiss military air base outside Geneva, Switzerland

The invitations to the sixteen most developed nations of the world had arrived about a month ago after a long closed discussion between the Secretary General and the Security Council of the UN. They simply proposed the realization of a secret meeting, with the purpose of discussing the extraordinary events that had been taking place on Earth for more than a year now.  

During that time the major economic powers had tried to respond to them, bringing up the alert levels of their armed forces and trying to get scientific explanations, but so far the results were less than zero. And the word was already out on the streets, despite the efforts of the various governments to impose a black out on the subject. For most of the invited countries the response to the conference was immediate. The others took some more days in even acknowledging the reception of the message but all countries accepted the invitation. 

On the day before the proposed date, military and governmental passenger planes from all the invited nations started arriving at a Swiss airfield near Geneva. The air traffic controllers first noticed the unusual nature of the flights as they saw the origin of the incoming place was spread out throughout the planet and from the few information available to them they started to realized who the passengers might be. Then, as they landed, the ground personnel also took notice of the international nature of the flights arriving and even recognized some of the planes. Both the tower and ground crews wondered what was going on, but they kept quiet as they were all bound to strict security rules and verbal warnings that prohibited them from discussing the matter with anyone. 

The ground crewmen, who saw the officials arriving by car to greet the visitors, where even more surprised to see the light blue of the United Nations flag on the some of the limousines and that no less than the Secretary General of the UN was present. They were quickly also to recognize both the Swiss President and Prime-Minister, which were also present, greeting the world's leaders as they stepped off their individual planes. 

Although Switzerland was keeping its neutral profile, they had agreed on hosting the UN summit. After each leader greeted the UN's General Secretary and the Swiss leaders, each of the chiefs of State and Government attending the summit quickly headed to one of the available limousines with his entourage and sped off to a facility outside the city. 

December 10th, 1998

Governmental facility outside Geneva, Switzerland

The sixteen delegations were seated in a large meeting room in a circle, each country and the UN occupying a table, with more chairs available to the lesser officials behind the tables. The Chiefs of State and Government of all the countries were present, together with their military leadership and selected officials. 

Outside the room a full staff of UN translators was working around the clock to provide simultaneous translation for the summit. But even though they were well-trained professionals, surprised and interrogative looks were exchanged at times between themselves when they realized the importance of the exchanges of conversation being made in the room next to them. 

All the attention of the people in the larger room was focused on a screen in one of the walls. The first image that appeared consisted of radar data, superimposed over a map of Siberia. The most surprisingly to the delegations was the date and time displayed in one of the corners. It showed that the records were from just about a week before. 

Several flights were identified and catalogued as either civilian or military aircraft, but suddenly a blip coming out of the Arctic pole appeared on screen. It was marked as "Unknown" and data scrolling showed his speed to be over Mach five and to be quickly descending. It headed southwards until finally stopping some 20 miles from the Russian-Chinese border. The map showed it close to a circular icon that apparently designated a either facility or settlement. 

The screen when black and a phrase come up, written in Russian but with an English translation underneath. It stated: "Visual report on the investigation of the distress signal received from Outpost Zbrynia 41".

After some seconds the screen transformed itself into an image of the Siberian tundra, with a military compound in the back. As the camera operator moved towards the buildings, heavily armed Russian soldiers could be seen in the background along with assault and transport helicopters as the camera slowly moved to the sides to give a general view of the installation. 

As it approached the entrance it could be clearly seen that the front gate and the watch post had been blown into pieces. Some military snow vehicles could also be seen, reduced to their metallic skeletons after being charred by flames. The operator then switched the view of the camera to the floor. An AK-74 assault rifle was sitting there along a pool of blood and spent cartridges. The rest of the images showed big blast holes on the buildings and the same amount of chaos. As it progressed along the inside of the installation it paused in the radio room. The communications equipment was trashed and another pool of dried blood was on the floor along with a sidearm and empty casing shells. 

The screen flickered a bit again and the following phrases appeared being written on it: "Transcript of the first radio report sent by the relief forces that arrived at the scene ten hours after the reception of the distress signal.

All 152 members of the garrison stationed at Outpost Zbrynia 41 are missing, presumed dead. Evidence of heavy combat in the area, but no bodies found, either of the garrison or of the attacking forces. We also have no indication or tracks of the means of transportation used by the attackers to leave the area. Air Rifle Battalion 271 will continue to investigate and secure the surroundings". 

After the image disappeared and the lights came on an uneasy silence was set upon the room. It was however quickly replaced by a distressed comment. 

"This can't just happen anymore!" The Russian President was quite upset, striking the palm of his hands into the wooden table where the Russian delegation sat. The other representatives of the world's biggest economic powers just sat in silence on their own tables, contemplating what they had just seen as the electronic screen was starting to recede back into one of the walls. 

Behind one of the tables the US President turned to a man next to him and asked: "How come our intelligence agencies hasn't picked this up?" The other man was the Director of Central Intelligence, or DCI, the individual responsible for the entire intelligence community in the US that is also the head of the Central Intelligence Agency, or CIA. 

He half turned his head before replying. "Mr. President, so far our resources have been more oriented into assessing how this unknown forces may pose a threat to our national security. The amounts of reports from our sources worldwide have been backlogged so that we can deal with the information that we have regarding our national territory. We have maintained contact with our allies and are regularly exchanging information with them, but in this case we didn't have enough time to sort and analyze the reports coming from the former Soviet Union. Besides that we have also other operations in progress regarding this matter that had priority. Also the Russians must have been keeping a tight lid on their security".

"Is there a probability of something like this happening over one of our military installations?"

"I would say very likely sir. We are one of the major powers on Earth and we can't pass unnoticed by them. Of course their intentions are still unknown, which makes any prediction of their future actions an educated guess. But from the interference we have already experienced over some of our military bases around the world this action can certainly be seen as an act of escalation".

"Ladies and gentlemen. I think we all agree about the need to take a concerted action on this subject". The Secretary General of the United Nations rose from his seat and looked around, addressing each of the statesmen present. "So far all reports that were brought to the meeting of the Security Council and now to this conference indicate that the strange and unexplainable phenomena that the world has seen in the past years cannot be the action of any terrestrial power."

"Unexplainable? Try telling that to my dead servicemen!" The Russian President suddenly rose. "Let me tell you all what you have just seen right now: a pure act of war! Simply speaking there could be no other explanation for this!"

When the translation was finished another voice replied. "Mr. Larianov, just for the sake of asking: couldn't your troops have taken actions that could have been considered as aggressive to these aliens, thus provoking some sort of retaliation by them?". The Chairman of the Chinese Communist Party didn't move or even look directly at the Russian president while asking the question or afterwards while waiting for the translation. 

"Mr. Zhu, my armed forces have been on alert since the first corroborated reports came in of these strange craft flying over the skies. They are under orders not to fire unless fired upon. And that outpost didn't have any aggressive role". What the Russian president didn't admit was that it was in fact a listening station for Chinese radio transmissions. The Chinese Premier was aware of that fact but he chose not to pursue it, yet. "Still, there are no survivors that can tell us of what really happened in Siberia, are there?" 

"That is besides the point. The last transmission received from the base was an emergency call, stating that they were under attack by unknown forces. And believe me that if we had wanted to attack these extraterrestrial craft we would have used all of our military capabilities, not just the garrison of an outpost in the middle of the Siberian tundra". 

"You would not have achieved anything if you did". The Japanese Defense Minister cut in. 

"What? How would you know?" The Russian Chief of State turned his stare towards the Japanese delegation. Looking to the side the minister saw the nod of his Prime Minister and continued. "Some months ago our country established a force to investigate these phenomena. We equipped them with the latest technologies our defense forces have available and tried to intercept the crafts. The results were zero. We disbanded the unit last month because we simply couldn't justify its costs anymore"

"And how come you haven't informed us before of that?"

"So far any nation present here hasn't bothered to inform the others about what is happening and preferred to consider it as an internal affair. We saw no advantage of doing that, especially until we had proven that this threat didn't come from any terrestrial nation"

The Chinese Premier quickly picked the implication on the Japanese argument. "And who can really prove that these craft are truly extraterrestrial in origin? Couldn't this be the work of, for instance, the Americans having discovered some advanced technology?"

"Mr. Chairman, I can assure you that my country isn't involved into any of these attacks. I sincerely wish that we had the advanced capabilities possessed by those craft, but the truth is that we don't". The US President had been having a tough time with China from ever since Zhu had risen to the head of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Already a full war had nearly erupted between China and Taiwan about two years before, with the US intervening to keep the island's independence.

"Gentlemen, this is leading to nowhere". Bomaka, the Secretary General interrupted. "The reports so far have been staggering: cattle mutilations and individual abductions happening all over the world. Sightings of those…." He hesitated before saying the word "UFOs, which possess capabilities unheard of over population centers and military bases. If they aren't made on Earth there cannot be any other explanation than that some alien life form is behind all these events!" 

The Secretary General of the UN was trying to establish some control and direction to the discussion. But his power in the world was close to nothing and so was his ability to be listened by the participants in the room. The several delegations that comprised the conference were busy talking, but for the most part conferring between themselves and ignoring the words his words. . 

President Winston turned to his DCI and asked: "This couldn't be right, could it? Could Iraq or North Korea have developed this sort of technology?"

"Impossible sir. This would require a level of technological development that we would have noticed by now. The same applies to the Russians, Chinese or any other nation in this room. If you remember we have discussed this before when the sightings appeared and the conclusion both the National Security Agency and the CIA came up with was that there wasn't any nation capable of developing and deploying such craft".

"So we consider them as having an extraterrestrial origin then like Bomaka is saying?"

The DCI just slumped his shoulders and said: "Yes sir. Although as before this is still quite unbelievable".

Across the room and behind another table the Chairman of the CCP turned to his deputy and said: "We now watch and go along with the events. There is still this question about American involvement to explore".

"Comrade Secretary, to explore? The general feeling seems to be that there is the need for have some action. If not collective at least individually."

"And there probably will be. And we will participate…for now"

Unknown location, North America

On the other side of the world a group of men watched the conference on a large screen with all their attention. Images of all of the delegations were present on the screen, with subtitles provided in every case that the language used wasn't familiar to the men. The software program did quite a good job in every case. Of course it would take years, if not decades, until it's capabilities were available to the general public and the same with the technology that was providing the group of men with the eavesdropping of the conference. 

They were all seated on chairs disposed in a half-circle in the middle of a small amphitheater. None looked to be less than forty years old and their age increased from the sides to the center of the half-circle. The one on the middle of them all was the eldest and the lines over his hawkish eyes and white hair struck a sharp contrast between him and the younger men. Keeping his eyes on the screen the man known in the group as Number One simply spoke. "Looks like our friends just advanced the schedule a little ahead of what was planned". 

There was no immediate reply from him to the comment that had come from the blonde man seated on his left. "Yes, but this was not unconsidered by us before". On the right side of One, Number Two gave the reply he was expecting with his low bass voice. Anyone ignorant about the group could assume that by his position he was his right-side arm but that was not the case, although in this situation he had proven quite skillful in carrying out his plans.

"What actions should we take now? Should we undermine any possible cooperation that comes out of this gathering? There are a lot of mistrusts that can easily be exploited in that room". Still silent, One waited to see the end of the discussion. 

"No, that would be compromising the whole plan. At this stage we can't risk that national intelligence services discover our existence or any of our operatives",

A third figure seated on the left of One but far from the trio added his comments: "But if we already have top positions in the intelligence services, couldn't we cover-up our activities like we have been doing all these years?" One cleared his throat as a warning and made a mental note to himself. Like others on the room, Nine held a high-ranking public position and he didn't agree with that amount of exposure. 

Two shook his head. "They could, but with the political, social and intelligence turmoil that this will provoke any attempt to prolong the cover-up will be sure to fail after a while, when the reports of several sources start to arrive. Then they will be asking: who is concealing the information? We simply cannot keep this whole thing in the bag anymore and have public and government opinion attribute it to a bunch of mental cases or social paranoia. No, like a chess game we wait for their next move. And then we act accordingly to it".

"And whose move will that be, Two? The Earth nations or our friends?" asked number Four, in an English that had a high-pitched accent.  

"Both, it seems. Our 'friends' duplicity is well known to us. From now on we will not assume anything about them. And we will think of ways of turning events so that our plan goes forward."

"Then, if this conference turns into international cooperation, I suggest that we infiltrate whatever comes out of it". Number Three's suggestion was the right course of action and the man seemed to take pleasure in knowing it.

"That has been already taken care of". Number One's first statement into the discussion brought well-concealed looks of surprise from those in the room who had not been made privy to his previous work. 

Quickly recovering from the surprise, Three asked. "What? You have taken action without consulting with the rest of us?"

"This is an emergency situation. The attack on Siberia and the news of the resulting conference in Geneva would require us to take measures, so I simply anticipated what would be our response, acting on the prerrogative of my position as One. But, like you have said, this demands a ratification of my actions by the remaining eleven. We shall finish debating it and afterwards you will vote to decide if my actions were correct or not"

The decision was taken after two hours of cold, rational debate. The position of Number One only allowed him to vote as a tiebreaker. While he was the major coordinator of this group of men, all of them with the same goal, but each one representing different interests and possessing different ambitions, he needed to convince the others of his actions. But these events had been long predicted and discussed, so his decisions were ratified. By a majority. 

Geneva, Switzerland

Despite the fact that the conference room had been checked for bugs by each of the counter-intelligence services of the seven countries whose leaders were present, the sweeps failed to detect the devices that were transmitting it to the other side of the ocean. The seven Chiefs of State and Government at the meeting were the leaders of the NATO countries that were attaining the conference. They had decided previously to gather during the event, due to the previous exchanges of information.

"Gentlemen, first of all, let me guarantee you that the US does not possess such aerial craft which we have all reported right now". Winston started and the French president nodded to him. 

"Mr. Winston, the French Government had its top scientists investigating since it started to see if it could be man made. The results were negative and they were verified by information from other resources". 

The US President raised an eyebrow at that statement, but then logic took over him. He had personally signed the executive order authorizing Operation Close Friend some months ago. Basically speaking, everyone had apparently spied on each other trying to discover the origin of the craft. 

"Yes, I believe we all had our own investigations and all of them agree that the statement of the Chinese Chairman is incorrect". The British Prime-Minister added and nods from the other leaders present confirmed his opinion. 

"So what should we do now? Should NATO take its own measures, according to the Alliance's Charter?" asked the Italian Prime-Minister. 

"That might not be the best case. If the US were to act on its own in this matter, others could see it as some individualistic effort aimed at getting an advantage over the others. The same might happen if NATO decides to respond alone to this threat". The French leader replied.

"But can we trust the other nations? Japan, for instance, hid from the rest of the world the creation of a force to deal with the aliens". The German Chanceler's argument brought worried nods. 

"I think that by now we all have come to realize that this isn't anything originating from this planet. And if we want to have success we need to act together". Winston was growing restless and anxious to get to the point.

"Planning a multinational operation? That would be a nightmare! We had almost fifty years of experience with NATO and we still have problems coordinating our armed forces after all that time. How can we expect to fight this collectively if the whole world is involved? We can't just throw in troops and expect that they fight like a unit, side by side. And who gets to provide leadership by the way? Les Americains again? Now how would Russia or China feel for Russia?" A hint of sarcasm filled the French President's voice. 

_Great, not the French attitude again!_ Winston thought as he thought of a diplomatic reply. "But Mr. Latour if this operation is undertaken by NATO, it makes sense to use the present command structures existent"

"And who will be the first country protected by the NATO military then? You expect us to believe that it will be a European country if an American stays in command?" 

"Gentlemen, we are getting besides the point here. We already know that worldwide cooperation will be essential. What we need to discuss is how we will use our military force on this matter and establish some coordination and command over global efforts". William Holt, the British Prime-Minister, was more than used to the task of trying to reconcile both the American's and the European's positions in NATO reunions after the intervention on Kosovo. 

"Well, the Japanese efforts seem to shed some light on that matter. We need our best pilots and troops equipped with the latest equipment available. I propose using special forces units such as my country's SEAL and Delta teams, or England's SAS Regiment or France's elite paratroop regiments". 

"Oui. My military staff has also come up with the same conclusions before". Well, at least the French bastard can be reasonable sometimes, thought Winston. 

"That sounds agreeable but again, what structure will we use? Our own survival may be at stake here". The German Chancellor still had childhood memories of the devastation brought on his country by the Second World War. The heated discussion occupied one more hour until the leaders decided to adjourn and wait for next day's conference results. 

CIA Headquarters, Langley, Virginia

"Well MacAllister, what's the story on the Project Blue Book files?" Major John MacAllister made a frown on his face before answering to his superior. At the same time as the international conference was taking place in Geneva, a similar meeting was taking place early in the morning, at the CIA headquarters at Langley Virginia. "Strange to say the least".

Terry Williams, member of the National Intelligence Committee, looked at his subordinate with an interrogating look. Some time had gone since he had been assigned to a multi agency effort, formed through an Executive Order from the President, to assess the threat of the UFOs to national security. They were dealing mainly with reports from other organizations like the FBI, CIA and local and state law enforcement agencies. 

But they were also going through other pieces of information coming from strange sources, such as Project Blue Book. From the late 1940's the Air Force had decided to investigate the general reports of UFOs through a number of projects. The latest one was called Blue Book and was closed in the 60s, after the analysis concluded that such objects could be explained by nature or man-made action. But there were still some events that remained unaccounted for. 

Williams turned to MacAllister as a puff of disbelief came from the other side of the table. It was hard at times to deal with the several elements that composed his multi-agency team like him or Mark Davis, the FBI representative attached who was less than thrilled. The previous tasks of the subdirector included dealing with counter-espionage and counter-subversion and those were the roles that he was representing on this meeting. For his part, Williams was a member of the National Intelligence Commission, which advised the Director of Central Intelligence, who overall coordinated the efforts of several federal agencies. And as such, Williams's job was to provide his superior, the Chairman of the Commission, with information that would go again up the ladder, through the Director of Central Intelligence to the President himself. However Davis had been a field agent and he disdained desk analysts like himself and MacAllister.

"Strange? Well there are reports of abductions and experimentations on American citizens over and over. What could be more strange than some files dealing with alleged UFOs?" The official of the Defense Intelligence Agency moved on his chair. MacAllister was a major on the intelligence arm of the US armed forces and he had been assigned to review all UFO information gathered by the military on the past. 

"Well let's put it this way. Most of the files are junk. A light seen someplace, a buzz heard… things like that. They are either a misinterpretation of military planes or natural phenomena or even hoaxes. But some remain unexplained to this day. Of course now it seems that they are accounted for, taking into light the events of the past months."

Williams pressed for more. "So?"

"While I was looking at some of the files I recognized the name of one of the investigators. He worked on Blue Book for some years right before the thing got axed and he later went on to teach in the Air Force Academy. That's from where I know him 'cause he was one of my instructors when I joined the DIA."

"Maybe you should arrange for a class reunion with him then" Mark Davis retorted. 

McAllister didn't even bother to look at the FBI man. "In any case, I gave him a call the other day and asked him what he could remember of Blue Book, now that it has been declassified. He mentioned some files that really puzzled him, because there was no logical explanation for them". 

"Have you checked them?"

"I would if I could. The thing is that are absent from the records".

"What? Are you sure? Couldn't they have been misplaced?" Bureaucratic errors were not uncommon Williams immediately thought but MacAllister shook his head. "No, because all the files are there".

"What the hell are you talking about then?"

"Well, for instance he mentions the case of an airline pilot that saw a big UFO escorted by two smaller ones back in the 60's and that one of the small ones had harassed the 707 that he was flying, making his engines flame out. I went to look for that file and it isn't there"

"Maybe he's just old and his memories aren't that good anymore. I don't know, Alzheimer or something". Williams gave a hard look at Davies because of the comment but the other man didn't bulge and stared back. 

"I thought that he might be making a mistake and I asked him if he remembered anything else. Apparently this guy's memory is still impressive. He could recall the name of the pilot, so I found out if he still was alive and called him on his place in Florida. The old timer could still remember every detail and confirmed everything".

Confusion made Williams wince. "Who the hell took that file out of Blue Book then?"

"That's the thing. It wasn't taken out, not officially. According to the logs existent all the files are there. But this one incident is absent from the central records". 

"Wait a minute. Are you saying somebody changed the logs and replaced the file?" Davis attention was suddenly caught on the conversation. "Before you go on giving any other explanation just remember that this could well have been a bureaucratic error instead". 

MacAllister shrugged his shoulders. "Well, either way I can't think of any other explanation. But you might be right, of course".

"Let's get back to the possibility someone might have changed the records. Who could do it? Parker, any ideas?" 

Brian Parker, the CIA liaison with the team was a very quiet man, rarely speaking unless he had something to say or ask. Officially he had come from the Agency's Directorate of Analysis but Williams had never heard of him when he had been on the employ of the CIA. The fact wouldn't be surprising considering that the Agency had thousands of workers but   he had worked under the Directorate of Analysis before being assigned to the NIC. He suspected that the man really worked for the Directorate of Operations, the section responsible for conducting clandestine actions and that his present role was simply a cover.  "None. I can't see the point of any foreign nation wanting to cover-up this. Unless they ready had knowledge of the UFO affair and decided to keep the rest of the world in the dark. But this is really something for the Bureau to check out in any case".

"What about the forces involved in all of these incidents, presuming that they are not from Earth?" Williams was unsure that Parker was right. "Nonsense. How could they either have knowledge of such a project or even manage to infiltrate our military bases to gain access to the project?" The idea made Davis think but the man refrained from sharing anything. Williams attributed it to the mistrust between both the FBI and the CIA: no one wanted to admit a foul-up to the other and both didn't like much to cooperate with one another. 

But the list of questions kept growing and Williams wasn't sure that they would find the answers, even if he got both agencies to work together. "Well, something strange has happened with Blue Book and somebody did it. The question is who since we now acknowledge the existence of UFOs, the files missing are hardly important now". 

"That's true, I found nothing in the remaining files that could give us an indication of their intentions or their methods", added MacAllister. 

"Well, that door let to nothing then. Davis, what do you got for us?"

"So far law enforcement agencies throughout the country have reported a growing number of cattle mutilation incidents, along with abductions and claims of alien experimentation on them and even missing people. Related to that there's a general feeling of insecurity with all of those reports that are leaking to the media. But the FBI has never found any evidence that there might be extra-terrestrial activity being all this. Some weird cuts on cattle and some kidnappings, but that's it."

"For crying out loud! You have seen the NORAD reports about UFO activity in those areas during the time of those incidents. There is a relation between things!" shouted MacAllister. NORAD was the North American Air Defense, a command created in the Cold War to monitor the airspace of the United States and Canada against aerial and nuclear attacks. 

Davis dismissed his objections. "I prefer to take more believable explanations about what's happening, MacAllister."

"Enough of this". Williams cut in. "Parker, what's the international situation?"

"Pretty much the same as here. The information that we are getting of our allies and our sources report the same type of incidents. We are still considering the possibility that this might be the work of some nation, in order to generate worldwide panic for some reason, but so far that trail has lead to nothing". 

"Maybe the CIA should go to an eye doctor". Davis snap comment even made Parker look at him with an annoyed look. 

"Davis, that's enough from you! You got your orders and if we want to succeed we all need to collaborate together. I'm not saying you might not have a point there, but as of this moment we are considering all possibilities, is that clear?" Williams asked himself why the FBI man was so hard on his head. _Maybe he just can't deal with the fact that ET has come. _

Davis responded laconically. "Yes".

When the tension began to drop a little bit MacAllister asked. "And what is the NSA getting?" 

"Zip", started Pharris, the last person in the room. "So far we have failed every attempt to detect any transmissions from the craft. We also don't have a clue about their intentions. Either they are using some transmission devices that our technology can't detect or they are operating in some total electronic blackout".

"That doesn't leave us much to work on". Frustration was patent in MacAllister's voice. 

Williams looked at his watch to check the date. Only two more days before he would have to report to Washington. "Well in any case, I got orders from the upper office: we wrap up what we know about them and present a report in a few days. I suggest that we start with an estimate of the number of craft that are behind these events and their possible intentions, whatever they might be. Parker, want do the honors?"

December 11th, 1998

Geneva, Switzerland

The Russian President was furious. A week had pasted over the attack on Siberia and the reports from military commands all over the Federation kept mentioning the presence of unidentified craft. In all the cases interceptors were sent to deal with the intruders and the air defense systems were on full alert, ready for action. But every attempt made at intercepting the craft had blatantly failed, because of their agility and speed. Nuclear forces were being kept around the clock in full alert, but there wasn't any target available and blasting pieces of the country into atomic oblivion just to get some planes, or spaceships or whatever they were would be a waste. "So Marshal Boganovitch, you are telling me that our armed forces are incapable of defending the Motherland?"

The high-ranking officer responsible for the Russian Federation's armed forces was very uncomfortable. "Yes sir. We simply don't have the technological resources to match those of the intruders. And even if we had the resources of the Soviet Union the results would be the same".

Piotr Larianov looked at the uneaten part of his breakfast. He wasn't hungry anymore, stopping when he got the full measure of the crisis. "Suggestions to prevent further attacks then, Marshal. There simply has to be something we could do".

"Sir, to give you an example, our MiG-31 fighters are one of the fastest in the world, not even considering that the previous model, the MiG-25, is even faster. However, both of them move like snails, compared to the speed of the craft we encounter. We have recorded speeds of plus Mach Six with these invaders. That even beats our fastest surface to air missiles. The same applies with the MiG-29 and Sukhoi-35 fighters. They are some of the most agile in the world but they don't match the enemy's capabilities". 

"We can't intercept them? How about reacting to further attacks on military installations?"

"Either these forces strike bases right next to available reaction forces or the problem is that by the time we get there the attackers are gone. I deployed a full airborne rifle battalion to assist the Siberian outpost, but by the time they got there the enemy had already departed. I'm sorry sir, but the Motherland is a big country".

"I see". Larianov lowered his head in frustration.

"But I would like your permission to implement the Skyranger program sir. We might get enough time to react that way".

"The what?" At least was something positive, Larianov thought. "Skyranger program. Do you remember the Yak-141 Freestyle program sir?"

Searching through his mind he remembered something about that plane. "Didn't we cancel it some years ago?"

"Yes sir. It was originally developed during the communist regime and was a supersonic fighter with vertical take-off capabilities. But although the program was abandoned, the Yakolev manufacturers continued to develop and implement the VTOL technology. A couple of years ago they presented the Yak-155 model, called the Skyranger, as a parallel to the American Osprey Vertical Take-Off and Landing transport program, only that is much faster than its American counterpart."

"I see, and what do you propose then Marshal?"

"In spite of heavy government cuts they have continued to develop the program even with scarce private funding. They have some prototypes in flying condition. I suggest we give the plane top priority and deploy it as fast as possible".

"And how would we use it?" Maybe Boganovitch wasn't as useless as he sounded. "To transport Spetsnaz elite commandos to react to further attacks. With the Skyranger it might be possible for them to get there on time".

"Your plan has merit Marshal. Well done. You are hereby ordered to implement it as fast as possible, using all resources available".

"Thank you sir. And may I propose something else?"

"What?" All of the sudden the Marshal was starting to perform his job, Larianov thought. 

"The Anti Ballistic Missiles deployed around Moskva. I believe we should re-equip them for anti-satellite use. It would give us a weapon in case these invaders are truly not from Earth"

"And leave the capital defenseless?"

"It already is sir. If one of those craft decided to drop a hydrogen bomb today on Moskva, the early warning we would get would be of the image of the nuclear blast on television".

"I'm still not convinced Marshal. Make the necessary arrangements, but wait for my command to perform the change"

"Right sir. And finally, I believe we should militarize the Mir space station". Boganovitch knew he was going a bit too far on that one, but he also believed it justified what it would cost in political terms.

"And throw into the garbage the Non-Militarization of Space Agreement? Are you mad Boganovitch?"

"Sir, Mir was designed also to have military functions as well. We do not need to deploy spatial weapons into it right now, but we can man it with personnel and equipment to extend our detection and intelligence capabilities".

"You seem to have the arguments for everything, don't you?"

"I'm paid to serve the country sir. We might be a shadow of our former might but we still have some assets available. The General Staff and me spent all night analyzing what we have through videoconference so that we could have some options. On your order we can start the preparations to launch a Soyuz capsule carrying personnel in a few weeks. Later we will send a Progress rocket with the necessary equipment as soon as we prepare it for zero-gravity environment".

He actually had liked the military man's attitude at the end. "Well done. Now go and have some rest. There's a lot that still needs to be decided and that might be the toughest fight of all so far".

NORAD Headquarters, Cheyenne Mountain, Colorado, United States

The underground command facility responsible for the defense of North America had been on Defcon Two alert for months, in full preparation for war. General Bigelow, the commanding officer of NORAD, looked at the window of his office to the Board that was the heart of the Air Defense Center. A large image of the CONUS, or Continental United States was being displayed in a full three-dimensional mode. Another "fast mover" had been tracked, entering the American Air Defense Zone some 100 miles north of San Francisco, flying 30 thousand feet over the Pacific at Mach Six. He looked at his desk and saw the amount of reports from this month alone. The pile already seemed to be of the same height as that of November, with two weeks still left until New Year's Eve. Bigelow felt extremely tired like the rest of the men he commanded. 

On the floor a systems operator had just ordered a flight of F-16 Air National Guard fighters to intercept the intruder. Again the same drama unfolded: the planes just weren't fast enough or didn't have the enough fuel to catch up with the intruder. Other airbases went into full alert along the predicted path of the fast mover. Bigelow started wondering what was the point using the same worthless tactics over and over. 

Area 51, Nevada, United States

Lieutenant Colonel Andrew Harris finished his pre-flight preparations and grabbed his helmet. It wasn't a regular helmet. In fact it looked more like one that might be used by astronauts rather than a jet pilot. But he was used to them. Having flown the SR-71 Blackbird reconnaissance bird for more than a decade he knew the necessity of wearing the bulky flight equipment necessary for flying a plane at tremendous heights and speeds. And, after the retirement of the SR-71 in the 1989 he continued flying the same way as before. 

Only now his ride was a different one. When plans were announced for the dismissal of the Blackbird, Harris was readying himself to work as a test pilot for NASA or some technical department. That thought quickly disappeared when some of the top brass asked him if he would be interested in participating in some special project under top security. He knew what it meant: not being able to talk about it with anyone and being posted to a location lost in the middle of nowhere. But he jumped right at it after two seconds of thought and had never regretted it. 

The plane Harris now flew was responsible for some of the Earth shakes felt by Southern California citizens in the last years. It was still a "black" project, officially denied by the government but that was operative for some years now. 

It was called the Aurora and it looked more like a machine straight out of Buck Rogers than a plane. 

Its short wings stretched back and connected with its twin tails, making it look like a stretched triangle when looked at from above. And there was no "bubble" canopy for the pilot. From the nose to the tail the fuselage made an ellipse where the pilot and the rear electronics officer where located together with the reconnaissance equipment and the huge fuel tanks. The intakes for the advanced ramjet engines where situated on the belly of the plane. The reason for that was that the plane needed to spread the air over the entire length of its body in order to be able to reach Mach 6 speeds. The aero-thermodynamic ducts, or ramjets, located there used the whole underside of the plane to compress the air before it went to the engines. The engineers that built the Aurora also realized that they would have to control the heat made by the friction with air of a craft going over six times the speed of sound. The heat would have to be evenly distributed over all parts of the craft and disposed of. Thus the liquid methane fuel used was heated before it went to the engine and then the excess heat would be expelled through the exhaust situated in the rear underside of the plane. 

The Aurora was a technological marvel. It could cruise at speeds so far only reached by test planes and for short periods of time. Although it only had limited stealth abilities, its strength wasn't deception but speed. It would be extremely difficult for a surface to air missile or an interceptor to reach a plane that moved miles per second.  

The mission scheduled for tonight was extremely different from what the plane had been developed for though. Harris hardly believed it when he was briefed some hours later. As the General had put it: "it's hard to believe Colonel, but we need to get some information on the abilities of those machines up in the air. And there might be some danger involved. We don't know how they will react to the Aurora's presence". At the same time it was a challenge that Harris knew would take him to the extreme. And that's why he accepted it. 

The plane was already on the tarmac, fully equipped, hardly illuminated in the middle of the black night. Some hours before technicians had equipped its cargo bay with reconnaissance and electronic surveillance equipment. Harris looked at the sight and smiled. _Tonight we are going for a wild ride baby. _

Air Force One, Military Airbase outside Geneva, Switzerland

The Air Force One was the name of the Boeing 747 specially modified to transport the US President. It also allowed the Commander in Chief of the American military to direct a nuclear war from there, due to the communications and electronic equipment it carried. President Winston had decided to spend the night at the plane, declining the use of the facilities provided by the Swiss government. 

Not that the comfort of his room on the 747 was better though. Operation Hawk had been authorized some months ago. Although the date set would put it in the middle of the conference, the Go order was given in order for its results to be used in the conference. And in the early dawn the American leadership was up, cramming themselves into the communications room of the airplane. 

"Mr. President, the Aurora is ready on the runway. We are already informing NORAD of the mission profile. Pretty soon they will have a target for the Aurora." The image of the Chairman of Joint Chiefs of Staff flickered on the computer screen for a second. 

"Very well General. Gentlemen, further recommendations?" The Secretary of Defense and the DCI shook their heads. 

"Let's get this show running then. Execute Operation Hawk when ready".

"Yes sir. Transferring command to Cheyenne Mountain this minute".

"God's speed, General". President Winston turned to the Defense Secretary. "Are we on communication with our allies?" He looked at one of the Air Force officers who nodded to him before replying. "Yes sir, we are informing them of every step we take". 

"Good, Mark, what's the status of my National Security Adviser?"

"Candace is doing great sir. I just talked to her on the secure line. The tumor removal operation was successful and she's constantly arguing with the hospital staff to let her go to her work". The DCI frowned: "Unfortunately it will take a few more weeks for her to even be able to leave the hospital".

"Keep her informed about things". The DCI then looked at another officer. "Yes sir".

Cheyenne Mountain, Colorado, United States

Deep inside the mountain General Bigelow smiled when he read his new orders signed by the President. Tonight things would work out a little different, he considered as he called the communications officer and informed him of how things would go tonight. 

He looked at the Board. The fast mover had taken a southeasterly route after reaching land and reducing speed to Mach 3. Still too fast for the F-16 interceptors, but now he had an ace up his sleeve. "Notify the Nest. Tell them to release the Hawk and give him an approach vector to the fast mover". 

"Yes sir." The communications officer also smiled. Tonight things would be different.

Area 51, Nevada, United States

Lt. Colonel Andrew Harris got his final instructions from the tower and pushed the throttle lever to full and nearly 80,000 pounds of aircraft and fuel started to move down the runway. After take-off he quickly reached the altitude of angels twelve, or twelve thousand feet. Then he engaged the afterburner and the Aurora started going hypersonic. Usually aircraft would be forbidden to reach that speeds at such a low altitude over land, but tonight three air traffic corridors had been cleared by NORAD just for Operation Hawk. The passengers would just have to take a few more hours to get to their destination, Harris thought and smiled at the excuse the airports would making up for the delay. Looking down his display unit, filled with information being beamed directly to his craft from NORAD, he saw that the target was 500 miles away, only some minutes away from him.

Air Force One, Geneva, Switzerland

"Sir, I got word from NORAD. The Hawk is hunting." The JCS couldn't hide his satisfaction as he reported to President Winston. 

"Good. Keep the reports coming General, I want to be informed about everything in the minute. If there's even the slightest possibility of danger tell the pilot to back off, is that understood?"

"Fully, sir"

Cheyenne Mountain, Colorado, United States

The whole floor of Strategic Air Defense became mesmerized when the icon for Hawk appeared on the Board heading out towards the fast mover. Usually, the operator that picked up an Aurora on the radar had orders to dismiss it and not even make it visualize on the board, due to its classified nature. But tonight things were different and everyone had their eyes on the screen. "Hawk is approaching target sir, range 47 miles".

"Tell Hawk to make a pass about one mile in front of the target. And for his rear electronics officer to start preparing his equipment". 

Northern California, United States

Harris slowly moved the plane to the direction plotted on his Head's Up Display. The computer had the mission parameters and was relaying him of the course that he should take. He keyed his mike. "John, how are we doing back there?"

The voice of the officer on the back cabin that operated the Aurora's reconnaissance equipment replied on his headphones. "Great Andy. I think I'm gonna puke again, the way you are pushing this beast". The velocity at which they were moving made for some hard pressures on the human body and John was always complaining about it. . 

"Stop horsing around like the beast you just mentioned. Is the equipment set?"

"Yup. As of some dozen miles ago we started picking up the bogey on the IR camera and the data is being transmitted back to base. Just get us a little closer for the other sensors and our job will be done". 

Air Force One, Geneva, Switzerland

"Mr. President we are starting to receive data from Hawk. Range to target is thirty miles". The tension inside the 747 was rising as reports kept increasing coming from NORAD kept increasing. "All right, General"

Northern California, United States

Twenty more miles to target, Harris thought. Although it was a black night out there, he had his night vision goggles on and was looking at the target's direction, every now and then checking his instruments. He had managed to place himself on the fast mover's six and was closing the distance. 

Cheyenne Mountain, Colorado, United States

  
"Hmm, Sir". The voice of the controller showed surprise and shock. "Target is changing speed and decelerating fast". The excited comment made Bigelow head for one of the consoles. Staring at the monitor he tried to understand what was happening. 

"What? What's the target's speed right now?"

"Well, radar shows it has dropped speed to zero sir!" As the Air Force technician looked at Bigelow he saw him shaking his head in disbelief. "From Mach three to zero in a few seconds? That's impossible!"

"Sir, at that speed the Hawk will intercept it in ten seconds. Also he will come in much closer to the target". Another technician warned from another station. 

"Notify the Hawk immediately!"

Northern California, United States

Harris suddenly saw the UFO through his night vision goggles as the plane pursued its target. First it was only a spot in the night sky that quickly become larger. 

Then he realized that something was wrong: the target wasn't supposed to be in that quadrant of his vision and he had kept to the route being relayed to him by NORAD. 

A quick check on the radar confirmed told him what John was starting to warn over the intercom. He checked his instruments again, as he refused to believe that the UFO had literally stopped in the sky since its speed was zero and it was hovering. 

By the time he thought of reacting a blue flash of light had already swept over the plane. The NORAD warning came a few seconds later but Hawk wasn't there anymore to receive it. 

Air Force One, Geneva, Switzerland

The eyes of the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff suddenly went wide as he held a phone to his ear. A second later he simply said. "Mr. President we lost contact with Hawk!"

Winston couldn't believe the words. "What? What do you mean?"

"The Hawk dropped off our radars and we don't have radio communication anymore. Also, its data link has been severed". 

"Just what on Earth happened?"

"I don't know sir. The target simply ceased it's speed to zero and seconds later we lost contact with our plane".

"Is the UFO still being picked up by our radars?"

"Yes, it has regained it's original speed and is heading towards the Midwest". 

"Keep tracking the UFO and start finding out what happened to our plane and men, General".

"Yes sir". Winston turned to his advisers. "Mark, Edward, what do you think it has just happened?"

"Until we retrieve what's left of the bird and analyze the data sent, it's too early to say Mr. President, but I believe the Russians are right: their intentions are clearly hostile" responded the DCI. "Well, that's agreed for sure. Suggestions?"

"We should be talking to the whole Cabinet, sir. We already have to take measures to deal with a situation that is akin to being in war. The press is already making noise about it and while we can for the time being say that we are investigating it, we can also attribute it to some internal or external threat. That is, to say it's an earthly threat, sir. But, eventually we will have to inform the Congress and the public. There's already talk amongst congressmen about  forming a joint Committee to investigate this matter"

"Ask for my Chief of Staff to arrange a meeting with both House and Senate majority and minority leaders as soon as we get back. Is the Vice-President also informed?"

"Yes sir. He's been receiving reports ever since we got here for the meeting".

"Good. Edward, raise the level of all of our armed forces to Defcon Two and inform the Russians, Chinese and our allies of our decision and the reasons behind it. While me and Mark go back to the meeting I want you to convene with the Joint Chiefs of Staff and start thinking of ways of dealing with this threat more effectively using the information gathered by the Hawk."

"Yes, Mr. President."

"Where's the State Secretary?" Winston had assigned him to keep a permanent contact with the other leaders during the conference. "Still having breakfast with the Japanese delegation". 

"Get a full report to him and tell him to join me when I arrive back at the conference building. Also, get all of this information available to the General Secretary of the UN and the other delegations beside our allies".

Although Mark Casper was a reasonable man his long years in the CIA and the habits picked on immediately reacted: "Sir, we will be revealing some of our defense abilities and a top secret military program if we do that ". 

"I know Mark, but at this time we have no choice. Either we get everyone working together or we will all fall to the forces that were behind what happened this dawn".

Northern California, United States

The first team to arrive at the wreckage site was a Blue Beret Air Force security team, flown out of Nellis in an MV-22 Osprey VTOL aircraft. The flight took some hours to reach its destination, but the pilot had been given precise information on the area when the crash had occurred. After a quick search they soon spotted smoke rising in the air from the ground and the plane quickly flew into its direction. 

It was a good thing that the crash had happened over mostly uninhabited country, the captain in charge of the team was thinking. At least we won't have problems with civilians popping around and seeing what they shouldn't. The plane landed nearby the wreckage that was still burning. They started forming a perimeter around the remains and waited for the recovery teams to arrive. 

Geneva, Switzerland

The mood in the meeting room had turned very somber after all the delegations saw the radar, infrared and visual images of the attack of the UFO on the Aurora again. The Secretary General of the UN took the floor afterwards. Apparently Bomaka had more taken courage from the video to express his opinions on the subject. "Are there anymore doubts? We need to combine the world's efforts to deal with this threat. The Russians were struck without a chance to react; the Americans used the best of their technology and were also swept away by these forces. There isn't any nation that can face them alone".

"Mr. Secretary, I think the rest of us stand convinced of your words after what we just saw. I've just convened with the rest of my government and Japan is ready to place its armed forces under UN control to deal with this threat". Looks of surprise turned to the Japanese Prime-Minister. "We urge all the other nations to do the same"

"And under whose command I might ask? The UN? They are just a bunch of diplomats! You must be crazy" shouted the deputy of the Chinese Chairman. "We will not place our forces under UN control, since that would be placing them under American command for sure. You have all seen what the American actions have taken us for. Who knows if they didn't just forger this incident and had attacked the Siberian outpost just to make us take that decision!" 

Winston thought of himself as a patient, but yet determined man, when the circumstances demanded it. But right now he could only think of throwing some punches at the Chinese deputy, which had just sat again under the approvingly, yet subtle, look of the Chairman.

But the Indian Prime-Minister stepped in first. "After all I've seen in the past months and now this, I can only think that this could not be work of man. But I must say, and I feel I speak for others in this room, that the American action of this morning was rash and precipitated. Who knows if the aliens didn't understand it as an act of aggression on our part and their actions were just self-defense? Therefore I also support the Chinese restrictions against placing my armed forces under UN or US control."

"If I might address the conference, Mr Secretary". A man in the center of the French delegation rose to his feet at the hopeless look of Bomaka. "Please, President Latour".

"Last night the seven nations that belong to the defensive alliance called NATO, that are here present, had a meeting and decided upon a number of things. We first thought of calling our defense agreements to form a force capable of facing this out of this world threat but we decided that this shouldn't be simply NATO formed. The question of American leadership was also mentioned on that reunion and we couldn't reach a consensus about it then. After much thought last night, which I suppose all the delegations did since we all look very tired," A number of grins formed at the ends of several mouths of the officers present in the conference. "I believe our delegation came up with a solution".

"And what do you propose then Mr. President?"

"In spite of what the Indian and Chinese delegations said, my country believes that the UN should be the rallying place for our efforts. Firstly it will give our forces a sense of union, and it will also show to the public, when they are informed of our work here, that we are doing something together about it. We can divide it into regional commands, each responsible for a world area and each country will be required to contribute with troops and equipment. But control should remain under the hands of a UN Commander in Chief, although the organization can request assistance from national military forces and vice-versa. The countries involved can judge its work by the funding they provide. The more satisfactory results, the more money the force will get from each country". He paused for a minute to let the other delegations to consider the idea before continuing. "However, we must name leaders for that covert force that will be both consensual and satisfactory for the mission, which will involve coordinating the military and research efforts into this threat".

Bomaka nodded, clearly impressed. "To be talking so convincing I take it that you already have the names for both, Mr. Latour."

"Yes I do, Mr. Secretary, although they are only possibilities at this moment and others can be discussed. For military command of the operation, I propose Colonel-General Dmitri S. Illyuschenko of the Russian Federation's Armed Forces".

A silence descended into the room for a second. "A Russian ?!?" Several voices exclaimed at the same time. Piotr Larianov looked puzzled at the French President, not knowing how this stroke of luck had come for him.

"I'm sure that you will all verify later his credentials with your own intelligence services, but I will present a brief profile of him and I asked the Russian delegation to correct me if I make any mistakes". Latour then started speaking.

Air Force One, Geneva, Switzerland

The American delegation had used a break during the conference to get back to the plane and discuss the new situation. "Well those sneaky French really did their homework, that I can say. And we didn't have a clue that they were also acting towards it". Casper was simply appalled at their boldness. 

"Get to the point Mark. The conference is convening again later in the afternoon to vote on this subject and I need all the information I can get before I make a decision".

"For starters they picked a Russian. And he's quite a leftover from the former communist regime. That will surely please both the Chinese and also the Indians, since some of their military know quite well the man since he has liaisoned with them. For us it presents us a dilemma: if we go against him we will be accused of thinking only of ourselves as in trying to impose our views all over the others. And, while a lot of countries would follow our lead, France and probably some other NATO members would bail out which means the Alliance would be broken, at least in spirit". It made sense although he still did not like it. "I'm still listening".

"On the other hand" the Secretary of Defense picked up, "this guy is a tough bastard, from what Latour told us and the Pentagon confirmed. Presently he's at the head of the Russian Spetznaz forces. He has climbed through the ranks through hard work and is seen as one of Russia's, if not one of the world's top strategic and tactical minds regarding Special Forces".

Casper continued. "Which, as we had seen before in the meeting with NATO, would be the main focus of our defense actions, supported with aircraft and light vehicles and supplemented with a scientific and technological staff. The reasons behind it are that we need the best men around and also because it doesn't involve large forces, which might bring the media's attention and alarm the population. Finally it will make them harder to detect by the enemy and the research and manufacturing efforts can be coordinated and not be dependent of any country".

"Exactly. No one gets too much control over this and Bomaka is the overseer of that". 

Winston wasn't sure of Defense's last conclusion. "But what about political control or influence over the force? Isn't there a risk?"

"I doubt it sir. This guy was one of the youngest officers to become general. He served in Afghanistan and we suspect that in some liberation movements in Africa and Latin America. He's loyal to his duty and his troops. When the Soviet Union broke apart he managed to keep most of the Spetznaz forces still active and well equipped, in contrast with the rest of the Russian Armed Forces". The DCI concluded his arguments. He had already been convinced that it was the only possible solution.

"I second the Mark's opinion, sir". The Secretary of Defense also nodded in resignation. 

"Congress will skin me alive for this you know?"

"Not really sir. Our participation on this is voluntary. We can always step out of the project when we want, as the French proposal states. And whatever information this force gathers will be distributed to all the countries involved. And US troops assigned to it and our regional command will have an American general in front of them for sure".

"And how do I deal with Congress then?"

"We will just ask them how they would like to be replaced in their seats at the Capitol Building by aliens". Winston nearly laughed if not for the gravity of the situation. "What?"

"If the progression of their activities increases at rate we are seeing, this will come out to public opinion, sooner or later sir. And by then we could expect more serious incidents if not….total war. We will need to rally our people behind a cause by then and it could very   well be this new force. And if they fail, then we fail." The President looked hard at his DCI's words. After all he was paid not only for spying but to give the best advice possible to him before he took any national security decisions. And his subordinate's words were getting to him.

Geneva, Switzerland

Most of the French plan was accepted right away in the afternoon by all of the countries, leaving only the small details to be adjusted in the debates that followed. When overall consensus was found, the General Secretary and his staff were chosen to write the final document that would be signed by the signatory nations, defining the future combat force. 

Its prologue stated the following:

"On the day of the 11th of December, 1999 of the Christian calendar, We, Sovereign States of the Planet Earth, therefore compromise ourselves to investigating and responding to the extra-terrestrial threat to our planet under the guidance of the Organization of the United Nations and with the goal of achieving human survival and advancement. For that, we shall contribute to create a force for this purpose called the Extraterrestrial Combat Unit, or X-Com, to be placed under United Nations command to defend us all". 

When the delegations dispersed and proceeded to return to their respective countries, the deputy approached the Chinese Chairman. 

"Forgive me Comrade Chairman, but that wasn't logical. I seek guidance".

"You question my orders?"

"Yes, Comrade Chairman. Because of my duty to the PCC and to you, if you want me to keep giving you worthy advice, I would like to know that you have not gone mad".

"Very well. Tit is your right to ask and to learn". Although not too much, he considered in private. "The French won the upper hand when they presented that proposal. They knew that neither us or the Americans or the Indians couldn't refuse for the sake of losing face and being seen as individualistic, while the Russians must have become thrilled and the Europeans were assured of some balance. The Japanese will also gain more control overall without the Americans giving all the orders. The remaining nations also saw most of it and decided that they also had to approve it, being afraid that they would be left out".

"But are we going to collaborate with this X-Com force?"

"Be patient. We soon will start working our way around them". In a similar way, the Russian President turned to his Chief of General Staff, grabbed softly his uniform jacket, the medals biting at his fingers, but without paying attention to the pain and said:

"Order Colonel General Illyuschenko to fly and report to Moscow this instant! Also activate all the defence plans we had discussed before and that where pending of my authorization. Mobilize all available resources into them. And I want a full report for tomorrow afternoon". 

"Yes, Mr. President".

However, without anyone present at the conference knowing, a location in the Rocky Mountains in the United States started transmitting several messages to individuals around the world. Who soon received them and started complying with the orders that they had received some days ago.

André Galvão, 2001 


	3. Openings

X-Com – The Unknown Menace 

Chapter Two – Openings

December 13th, 1998

Russian Army Compound outside St. Petersburg, Russian Federation

Lieutenant-General Dmitri S. Illyuschenko realized that he was extremely drunk when the rational part of his brain took notice of the cold and metallic taste of the pistol barrel that was inside his mouth. With a sigh he slowly released the pressure his right hand thumb was putting on the trigger and placed the weapon on the table in front of him, after slowly securing the weapon. Not again, he thought looking at the written piece of paper lying on the plastic top of the table in Kremlin stationary.

Turning his head to the left he came up with his reflection on the mirror inside the open door of metal cabinet that hold his belongings, its surface revealing a white-haired figure slumped in a chair and beneath his gray eyes he could start to see dark strains caused by the lack of sleep. Although a scar marred his jawbone his face usually bellied his 56 years since he had always kept a lean body and still could outrun any of his recruits in the marathon. But without his self-confidence on his physical and martial skills little left now remained inside him although on one on the base, or even on his life knew what stood underneath it. Several particular ghosts had haunting him that night with one right next to the letter on the table, a silver framed photograph of a blonde-haired woman smiling. 

He had met Irina on southern Ukraine in 1967, freshly commissioned as a junior lieutenant while his parachute unit was conducting airborne training on the countryside. The farmers of the local kolkhoz were harvesting the fields nearby the training facility and one night the officers of the battalion had been invited to a reception at the farming community. On that late summer night he had been introduced to Irina, three years younger than him and so delicate that she had been startled a number of times by his somewhat exalted enthusiasm as both of them talked through the evening meal. But both had felt in love by one another on that night and for the next weeks he had had to put up with the jokes from the senior officers about the 'enloved fool' of their unit as they completed their training. They married on his second leave after that, with Illyuschenko finding out that it had been easier to jump off a plane at night than making the proposal to her.

But Irina had died twelve years ago on St. Petersburg's military hospital while he had been serving in Afghanistan on the elite Spetznaz Special Forces after a coronary stroke. Their few friends who attended the funeral told him later that it had been brief, with not much attendance since both of them were single children and their parents had died on the Great Patriotic War against Hitler. They never had any children since medical tests had shown that Irina was sterile but until then they were happy. She's gone.

He had been gone on a mission, leading a two-helicopter flight to conduct raids on the mountainous border between Afghanistan and Pakistan in order to disrupt the supply routes of the guerrilla movement that was fighting Soviet rule on the country at the order of the American CIA. But their transport Mi-8 Hip helicopter had been hit by one of the American Stinger portable anti-aircraft missiles that had become a large threat to Soviet planes and helicopters, the same ones that he had been ordered to shut down their supply. Ordering the other craft away for fearing that it might suffer the same fate if it tried to rescue the survivors of the crash, Illyuschenko then led his unit back to Soviet lines until they linked with an armored column sent to retrieve then. The crossing of the mountain passes had been brutal with the guerrillas in hot pursuit of the small group of men that had survived the attack but when he had finally returned to his base on the outskirts of Kabul he had discovered that Irina had died. He had saved his men from death but he had been unable to save her. 

Images of a little village lost in the middle of mountains in Afghanistan that he had been ordered to investigate for terrorist activity burned on his mind. And the bloody carnage that occurred afterwards when one of his men overreacted to one of the villager's actions and started shooting. When he finally got his men under control the bodies of the civilians were spread out on the main street and inside their houses, gunned down by the precision of his elite team. He later saw that his safety on his assault rifle had been taken off and his clip was empty but he couldn't remember firing the weapon. It didn't matter at the moment as they continued conducting raids against all enemy forces on the border, under secret High Command orders to raze the land. Now it matters?

The same memories that had taken over him again came back and he fought them off. It must be of this of receiving the orders to report myself to the Kremlin later in the morning. Who knows what I will be assigned now by High Command.

There was complete darkness in the base where the elite Spetznaz commandos were housed. Almost no sound could be heard in spite of the war condition, which had been ordered by the Russian President himself. But one special squad was always on full alert, ready to deal with any further intrusions or attacks, although Illyuschenko knew that their efforts would be worthless. Already they had tried numerous times to reach the craft when they landed, but the speed and the distances involved had always worked against them. And each time he felt more frustrated and feeling more helpless.

He never told anyone about his memories and nightmares. He knew that if the Army knew about them he would probably be discharged for medical purposes. And he had a very important job at hands, making sure that his elite teams were ready for anything and that mistakes like that wouldn't happen again. For more than a decade duty had been a helpful medicine in keeping away the bad dreams. Duty would also have to suffice now as he picked up the frame and placed it on the drawer of his bedside table, closing it afterwards.  

He looked at the watch upon the table and cursed, noticing that it was already three in the morning. Looking down to the ground he found what he was looking for. An empty bottle of vodka was on the concrete floor, still intact and right next to the table, where it had fallen from his   limp right hand. The dizziness as he tried to pick it reminded him that he had also taken a couple of too much shots. He was used to sleeping few hours due to his training and his duties, but as he got up and went to bed he knew that the hangover would be a bitch. Sleep came almost instantly, but his dreams were still troubled.

Unknown location, North America

In another location on Earth a man thought about the current events and how they would affect it personally. 

Number One's position was very precarious and he knew it. He was nothing more than a first among equals, on everyone's perception of the leader. And while the choices for replacing him were dim, this sort of event could just provide sufficient arguments to convince the majority to take such an action. 

 The Group's strict hierarchy was organized like a ladder. When someone was elected to the first step, the former number One would be then demoted to number Two and so forth with the remaining elements. Which meant that conquering leadership was a long, arduous process. Number One's last position was Seven and he had managed to convince enough lower "steps" to give him their votes. Usually Number One would be elected from the top "steps", which had the closest chances of being elected. But the real factor of the equation would be the "middle" steps: if someone below them got elected their positions would go down. It would be real easy to get demoted due to someone's ambition, which through this way would be put in check. 

The only other way of ascending, besides being elected to Number One would be through the death of one of them. If Six died all the others below would ascend, with Seven occupying its place. While that could have brought political assassination as a tool to ascend, in this case it was different. The resources available to these men ensure that any strange demise of one of its members would be investigated and if crime was behind the cause of death the punishment would be swift. Death. Or something much worse. 

Seniority and experience would play a big role on internal politics. And due to a precise reason: the knowledge and means those men possessed made them more powerful than most nations in the world. Patience and careful planning was essential for them to reach their goals undetected by the remainder of society. Number One knew this was a crucial time, the one they had been preparing for years. Although the timetable had been advanced, they would have to be able to seize the initiative and take control over the development of events in the future. He considered what he should do with a piece of data his agents had just sent him: the recordings of the Hawk flight. 

The Aurora was considered already obsolete, but he had been involved at some point before with its conception and still remembered the pride he had felt years later when it took its maiden flight. But his personal feelings were not relevant here. More important would be the use that could be gotten from the data, especially if it found its way to the media. The Group had already decided that mass upheaval and distrust on the government would play a significant part in their plans. But not yet, he thought. When the time came this particular chess piece would be placed on the board and perform his role. The same was happening now with X-Com: it would give his friends something to worry about for the next months. 

The Pentagon, Washington D.C., United States

As Terry Williams passed the last and inner ring of the Pentagon he was feeling a bit nervous. While he had been working for the CIA and the NIC for twenty years he had never been to such a high-ranking meeting. He had dealt with Congressman, Committees and Administration officers, occasionally with a Secretary, but never with the Joint Chiefs of Staff or the whole Administration.  

And now he was getting both and more. He was about to present his group's report for the top military and civilian leaders of the country and still felt unsure of what he was going to say. At one point, during the early discussions, MacAllister had suggested, half-jokingly, that we should greet the aliens as our saviors. After everyone expressed their heated reactions about such a comment, he then added: "Since we are considering here theories about ET that until now would classify anyone who believes in them as nuts, why don't think of all possibilities then?" That phrase had rung a bell into Williams' mind, but he had no clue of what it meant.

It came also from the assignment. Until the last year his work had been related to unconventional forces and future threats of the new millennium. When the whole 'alien' group was formed no one knew what they were supposed to do. He looked at a mirror as his marine escort stopped by a checkpoint and presented his ID to the other soldier. He exhaled in relief as he looked at the perfect knot on his blue tie made by his wife at his request. His wavy dark blonde wasn't that bad either. 

Of course when news arrived to the team of the attack on Siberia and the incident with the Hawk, most of the theories that they had discussed were discarded. They now knew that they were dealing with some alien life form that would react aggressively when it entered contact with humans. Which also posed a lot of terrifying questions about what they were and, most importantly, what they wanted from Earth. 

When he reached the War Room entry he paused for a minute and checked himself while the military police checked again his identification. When the clearance was given he proceeded into the heart of the US military.

Unbeknownst to him at about the same time that he was on his way to the War Room, calls were being made to several military installations all over the United States, ordering the listeners to present themselves to Pentagon.

Imperial Palace, Tokyo, Japan

Takashi Ishibari felt he was making the most extraordinary speech in his life. He was presenting the reports elaborated by his Cabinet, Military Command and intelligence service to the Emperor about the results of the summit and the overall situation. While he had an almost ceremonial role in the society of Japan and had lost his figure as a divinity after World War II, tradition still overwhelmed the Japanese Prime-Minister. 

Kneeling in front of the seated Emperor they were both alone and standing inside a large room with walls of white paper. The monarch was listening carefully to his words and asking questions.  "So, we can assume that their intentions are hostile?"

"Yes, Emperor. They apparently seek something out of Earth. We are speculating, however, if their presence here is temporary or permanent, and if their appearances and hostile actions are provoked by our attempts of interfering with them". 

"Meaning that if we do not try to get in their way they might reduce their activity?"

"That was considered by the conference but their appearances spread throughout known history. Stories from ships in the sky were recorded by many cultures. Until now we had seen such allegations as ridiculous and mad, but now it seems that we will have to reconsider them. The past year's activity has no parallel with what had happened before. This can only mean that they have a goal now and are acting towards it with every means necessary".

Nodding slightly he commented. "We must increase our actions then. You were right in establishing the Kiryu-Kai".

"Yes, your Highness. We now know that we can't dismiss their real goal here and must stop them, because they are invading and attacking our country to reach it. And the only lead we have are the cattle mutilations and the abductions".

"War again then". The Emperor's objections had been stated before to Ishibari about engaging in offensive operations.  "There seems no doubt about it, Emperor". The sound afterwards was the only response Ishibari got. 

The man's voice came slightly changed as the monarch changed the subject of the conversation. "What else can you tell me? Who are they?" 

"They are most likely from outside the Sun system, because there is no place to support such an advanced civilization except Earth in our solar system and if it was possible we would have detected it by now. Which means that they developed a way to travel between stars, something that was considered almost impossible by the modern laws of science until now. The time necessary for traveling with technology similar to ours would have no purpose. About what they look like we might have some indications but no ideas."

"And their craft? Can we match them?"

"No, we do not have the technology so we will attempt to capture one and hope we can understand its technological wonders."

"And we have tried every possible means of communicating with them?"

"We are still trying, your Highness. They just refuse to respond"

"Very well. Japan shall then prepare for defending itself. You shall use every means available to do this and report to me on a regular basis. And if the Emperor can do anything else for his subjects please ask him". 

"Thank you very much your Highness"

"One last thing. When you have chosen the Japanese members of this team, inform me. I have something I want to present them".

Pentagon, Washington D.C.

The constellation of epaulets carrying stars in front of him made Williams think for a minute about how now this had really turned into a stellar war. He was presenting his report to the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the body of military advisors to the President and Secretary of Defense that was composed of the Chiefs of Staff of the Army, Air Force, Chief of Naval Operations and Commander of the Marine Corps, along with the Chairman and Vice-Chairman of the JCS. 

The generals and admirals in front of all the US' combat commands where also present, along with the Secretaries of State, Interior, the National Security Advisor, who looked a lot better than expected after being through a cancer removal operation, and the President's Scientific Advisor. Absent were the Vice-President and the leaders of both parties of the House and Senate. The President, who now had just motioned Williams to continue, would brief them later. 

"Most likely the aliens have a profound knowledge of human constitution and behavior by observing us for so long. They must also know our society and technological level deeply. That is a major advantage over us, since we have no information about them, their strengths and weaknesses. 

They could have managed this using two ways: passively, by monitoring our transmissions or other such methods than don't involve direct physical contact with humans, and the other one, the" Williams paused, uncomfortable with the words "abductions and flyovers". One disturbing possibility also exists that those actions might also be psychological warfare on the aliens' part, with them trying to disrupt our societies through mass fear and hysteria". 

"How do you predict they will react with the occurrence of unexpected encounters with humans?" The General in charge of the Special Operations Command, a special mixed organization with elite units from the Army and Air Force asked Williams with a look that gave him the impression that the man had his total attention focused on his words. Actually they all looked like that, besides the President and the Cabinet members that were already informed of all of the events.

"Aggressively, sir. After the Hawk incident we know this for sure. And the Siberian attack can also be seen as a way of testing our forces".

"But so far they haven't really met us in combat?"

"Even the Japanese haven't been successful in intercepting them but they were using limited resources". 

"That might have a tactical advantage there if we can exploit it". His comment made Williams think for a minute before replying.

"Yes, if our technology permits us to strike at the aliens, using tactics on them, then they most likely will be unprepared. They will be committing the classic mistake of underestimating the enemy. But that could also mean that the conflict might escalate several levels as we learn more about the aliens and use that knowledge against them".

"By escalation, you mean that we or they might have to resort to mass destruction weapons?" The Commander of the Strategic Command slipped a trace of concern although he was performing his duty as the responsible for the nation's nuclear weapons. 

"That is a possibility sir. It depends on how the conflict will evolve and ultimately if the means to victory for either side reside in the deployment of such weapons". 

"And do our nuclear weapons possess any capability against them?"

"Unknown sir. They most likely will know we have them and what is their potential, but we can't tell if their technological level could withstand such power".

"How about their own strategic weapons?" 

"It would depend on how their technology progressed. They seem to have an advanced knowledge of engineering, along with physics and chemistry. The incident with the Hawk showed us that they have high-energy weapons and we can reasonably expect more powerful weapons and applications of their concepts to hand-held equipment."

"And do we have any advantage on them? Chemical or biological warfare for instance?"

"The question is if they evolved as much in other areas, like biology, computers, and others. Can we expect that we have any field were we are equal or even more advanced? That could also be an advantage over them that we can exploit".

Another general addressed him, as the questions continued. "In what scenario would you predict hostile encounters?"

"At every time we actively interact with them. Their activity is being reported all over the planet, in every different landscape and day hour".

"Including heavily populated environments?"

"I am afraid the answer is yes". All of the generals shook their heads nervously. Urban fighting was one of the most brutal, especially if the enemy was a superior force invading your territory. 

"And what are their objectives?"

"Undetermined. The parts removed from cattle don't give us any clue if they are using them for food or for some medical purpose. On the other hand the abductions, experiments and disappearances indicate that they have some purpose for us besides specimens for analysis. Their interest in us is not only scientific for analysis. The general disappearances indicated that the missing are having some final destination, whatever that might be".

"Sons of bitches!" None of the assembled men looked at the general that said the heated comment. They all realized what it could mean and anger was running wild in the room. Although Williams had stopped feeling about what we was writing when he was finishing the report and presenting it, he couldn't hold it anymore behind a neutral voice. "Yes".

The President raised himself and walked to the stand where Williams had made his presentation. "Very well, Mr. Williams. In spite of our almost complete lack of information, your team managed to determine some very enlightening hypothesis about them and their intentions that will make us think a lot. You are dismissed and keep up the good work".

"Thank you sir". He moved away and went to sit by the DCI. The Secretary of Defense got up and took his position behind the stand. "Well, gentlemen, that's about all that we know of the aliens so far. General Thompson, could you please present the plan for dealing with them now?"

The Chairman of the JCS left his seat and joined him at the bench. "Yes, Mr. Secretary. Basically, what came out of the conference was the creation of an elite strike and investigation group that will be called the Extraterrestrial Combat Unit or X-COM. The world has been divided into geographical commands, whose defense will be guaranteed by it's own X-Com team. Unfortunately the composition of many of the teams will be delayed, due to a lack of equipment and of funding for the bases necessary. While this will be a multi-national effort, with the supreme command in the hands of General Illyuschenko of the Russian armed forces, each area will have a reasonable degree of autonomy. 

In our case we have assigned Colonel Johnson, the executive officer of the Army's 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment to lead the North American command. His group of elite men and advanced planes will be responsible for an area of operations that will extend initially from the Arctic to Patagonia. As you can imagine there are major operational problems with such a mission, such as the distances that might be involved. We are currently developing some answers to that, but until the Brazilians manage to activate their own X-Com team to cover South America and we establish teams on each coast, we will be severely handicapped".

The admiral in command of the Navy asked: "From what it seems the team will essentially be made up of aerial and ground forces. What role will the Navy and the rest of the armed forces play in this conflict? Is X-Com to act independently of our chain of command?" 

"About that matter, the President has signed an Executive Order ordering all federal, state and local agencies to cooperate with X-Com. We can request X-Com's assistance if that is necessary also. But to avoid questions of jurisdiction, each country will retain its sovereignty. Which means that X-Com will still legally be a part of our armed forces, but their overall command will belong to the UN, similar to the formula used in peacekeeping missions before. 

While we don't have any control or responsibility over their activities, the North American team will be led by a U.S. officer, which will guarantee some consideration for our interests. With missions in other countries X-Com will have to require the authorization of the local authorities before intervening, especially in the case of the non-signatory nations of the agreement."  

"But what will be the means by which we will have to cede to X-Com?" The commander of the Air Force didn't like a bit to give away his most advanced aircraft. 

"After a general assessment of each country's capabilities we will basically form the team out of the best men from several formations: Delta, Special Operations and Rangers from the Army, SEALs from the Navy and Force Recon teams from the Marines. When it comes to the craft we will put the F-22 fighter program into active status as soon as possible, using the available pre-production aircraft."

"All of them?" The general's worse dreams had just turned into a reality. 

"Yes and some will be leased to other X-Com teams"

"What? It is our most advanced fighter! We can't just allow other nations to have access to it". The military men started moving nervously in their seats, also shocked at the decision".

"General, like it was said before, this is a world effort. In here what is at stake is our survival. And the Russians, Europeans and Japanese will also do the same as us with their top-secret projects"

"We already lost one Aurora, sir. All means we have are crucial for the defense of the US. We can't just be Santa Claus and start giving away what we might need in the future for our survival".

"And we will not give everything, General. The Aurora and other black projects still remain in our hands. While X-Com will coordinate a worldwide research effort, we will also develop our own projects, based on what we have now and the data retrieved from the aliens". 

"Sir, and what about our space based assets? How will they be used?" Space Command didn't want to be left out of the action, no matter how it could turn out. 

"As of the moment undecided and as such they will retain a routine state of operations."

"That's irrational sir. Just because their ships have all those capabilities we should try to keep the offense in space, just as we are going to do in the atmosphere and in land". 

"Mr. Williams, could you please answer that argument?"

"Yes sir" Williams got up, not too sure of what he would say. "Well, from our basic premises that we've established about the aliens they will most definitely attack any attempts that we make of interfering with their activities in space. In fact our satellite network will surely be targeted when they start realizing their strategic value to us. Which lead us to the fact that we should keep our assets pretty much on a low profile status so as not to draw attention to them and also to be able to use them if an opportunity presents itself".

"Mr. Williams, does that apply also to Strategic Command?"

"No, general. My advice would be for the Strategic Forces to be placed into a high level of alert, like we had done in the Cold War. If we ever need to use them in response to an attack, every second will count."

December 14th, 1999

Yakolev Aircraft Company test range, outside Moscow, Russian Federation

The day after his briefing with President Larianov, Illyuschenko immediately went to check the state of the Yak-141 program. The director of the now privatized bureau was more than pleased to see him, and personally welcomed him to the research and manufacturing complex when Illyuschenko got there. Such cooperation and friendliness would be unusual back in the Soviet Union's time, the leader of X-Com thought. But now the Russian government and X-Com were putting large amounts of money into a nearly bankrupt company, which made everyone that worked at it happy. 

He was standing in the tower at the middle of the runway, holding a pair of binoculars and watching a demonstration run of the Freestyle aircraft. 

"Where am I supposed to look at, Mr. Vassilev?"

"At the right end of the runway General. The craft will come from that side at almost Mach 1 speed and 100 meters high, decelerate when it reaches the center of the runway and then land vertically."

Illyuschenko waited until he saw a spot in the air that rapidly increased in size. The plane looked like some monstrosity, a fighter that had been drastically enlarged with the two movable jet engines attached to his side. As it approached the center of the runway its engines moved upwards until they locked into the vertical position. A few seconds later the craft stopped its horizontal movement and just hung in the air, like a helicopter. Then it slowly descended until it landed on the runway. "Impressive, Mr. Vassilev"

"Thank you sir."

He kept looking at the craft as it completed its landing. "Does it have rough field capacity?"

"Yes. It was developed taking into account Search and Rescue, Infiltration, Extraction and Rapid Deployment missions, taking 14 fully equipped troops. Basically it can operate as a helicopter and land on hard terrain.

"And what's the availability of them?"

"Well, the one you are seeing right now is the demonstration craft, used to show its capabilities to potential customers. It's the only one which is operational at the moment, but we have some half-completed models that can be quickly refitted and delivered."

"Very well then. We will need all available craft that your company can manufacture. How many crews do you have certified for operating the plane?"

"Only three".

"Do they have any military experience?"

"All of them have served in the armed forces as helicopter pilots".

"I will want to see their personal files and talk to them. We will also want to hire them from you for training and operational purposes."

The managers' eyes went wide open. "All of them?"

"Yes and we might also be interested in some of your top engineers"

"General, those are the only assets this company has right now. It has been hell to keep them working for us in the middle of all the financial troubles we have been experiencing."

"Mr. Vassilev, this is a very important project..." Illyuschenko had years of dealing with such problems. "And I can assure you that funds won't be much of a problem". He made a pause. "Or we could seize these assets claiming national security interests or even pay those engineers better to get them working for us. But we want your cooperation."

The manager quickly realized that he had no choice. "In that case General, my bureau is at your entire disposal".

December 15th, 1998

Forbidden City, Beijing, People's Republic of China

One of Chairman Zhu's first measures when he reached the top of the Communist Party's leadership was to move the seat of the Chinese government back to the Forbidden City. One of its sections had been completely equipped for the effect, while retaining the ancient look. Some voices were critical; especially noisy had been the faction of the Party that still fully believed in Marxism, claiming that the Forbidden City was a symbol of oppression. But Zhu had a different view on the subject and on Marxism, like his predecessor did when he took measures to open the economy. In spite of decades of communist indoctrination, all of the Chinese cultural heritage couldn't be just negated. The same about China's role in the world. More important than the implementation of world socialism, the Chairman thought, was assuring China's survival and predominance over the other nations of the planet. 

Already there had been a failure before, when the incidents with Taiwan failed to provide the motive to invade the rebel island. The intervention of the Americans had made his government stop the plan, since international opinion had rallied over the cause of Taiwan and threatened to make his country isolated. Not only that, but the threat of the damn American forces that had massed in Japan and in the Yellow Sea would render a military operation almost impossible. China didn't have the power to openly defy the US yet, but that would change with this alien threat. Attention worldwide would be focused on other events. 

He had committed, in paper, to supporting the X-Com with a Chinese team of its own. At the moment he had claimed that he didn't have enough resources for equipping such force, so he would contribute to the Japanese one. While his deputy had protested about it, he knew that the rewards would more than justify it. Not only would his country have access to vital information, but they would also gain knowledge of the aliens' and X-Com's tactics and composition. 

But what about the aliens themselves? How could he assure the survival of his country against such a superior force? He walked to the doors that led to the courtyard and surveyed the night sky. A flicker of light moving against the stars caught his attention and as he contemplated it for some time a thought crossed his mind. Yes, we may just be able to use them also. 

December 23rd, 1998

Nellis Air Force Base, Nevada, US

Harris woke up on his hospital bed and grabbed the mirror that was resting on the table to his left. He checked again the scars made by the liquid methane's coolness on his face. The doctors had told him that he had been extremely lucky because the night vision goggles and his breathing apparatus had prevented the burning of both his eyes and nose by the spillage of liquid fuel that occurred after his craft was split in two by the UFO's beam. When the ray struck the Aurora it hit the rear cabin, where his rear electronics officer sat. Major John Cleaver probably never knew what hit him since he died instantly, his body disintegrated by the power of the beam, along with the mid section of the craft. Harris had turned his head at that moment, after feeling some intense heat on his back, to assess the damage and check for the status of his flight partner. But the compressed high-pressure liquid fuel had been released by the hit and flew in to occupy the free space in front of him. 

He only saw the air for a second instead of his partner. And an intense burning on his face afterwards that almost drove him insane while he was descending with his parachute. It continued as the Blue Berets found him. They immediately called for medical attention. If he had been flying as high as the craft could go he would be with his faceplate down and probably nothing of the burned flesh would be there. But the mission called for a low altitude approach and visual reconnaissance also. No, you did what you had to do, he said to himself.

A knock on the door distracted him from his thoughts and he put the mirror down. After a second an Army Colonel stepped into the room and removed his cap. His nametag read E. Johnson and he was carrying a full range of decorations, including parachute wings. Harris began by throwing a salute, but the higher-ranking officer waved him off. 

"That can wait until you are fully recovered Colonel. Right now this is more of a…., let's just say, of an unofficial matter that I've come here to discuss with you".

"Very well sir. What can I do for you?"

"I am fully briefed on your flight and its tragic results. I also bring a message from the President saying that he regrets the death of your flight companion"

"Thank you sir". Harris didn't feel anything when hearing those words. "Anything else?"

"Yes, Harris. Right now we are mounting an operation to deal with this, let's say, hostile threat to our country. It's completely outside our armed forces structure and it will be an elite thing".

"What does it have to do with me sir?" Suddenly his heart race and he knew what he wanted. 

"Well, I'm in charge of the US part of it and we will be needing good pilots to fly some of the most advanced planes we got".

"Count me in". His response came automatically.

The Colonel kept his neutral pose. "I haven't invited you yet Harris". 

"Sir, if you came here, the only reason for that is wanting me in that force. I have flown the Aurora for years and have one of the highest security clearances in this country. I also have an idea of what those craft are capable of and how we might develop tactics to counter them. And while my combat abilities haven't been practiced for years I can quickly pick them up".

"There are more things here at stake than revenge, Harris". 

"Yes sir, there's a mission to accomplish. And to fulfill it I will use all the means I have. Including the motivation of revenge". It seemed to Harris that his last sentence finally seemed to get to the Colonel who changed the subject of the conversation.

**********

About half an hour later Colonel Johnson stepped off the hospital building and boarded a Humvee jeep that was waiting for him in the parking lot. The vehicle then headed off to the base gate and took the road to Area 51. 

When the jeep reached the secret complex a locked steel mesh gate first greeted it with no guards at it. Johnson stepped out of the jeep and produced an identity card that he showed to one of the video cameras mounted on the poles of the gate. A few miles later they reached another checkpoint, this time manned by fully armed Blue Berets Air Force security teams. They signaled Johnson to step out of the Humvee and after he complied with their orders the driver of the jeep moved out of his seat, unloaded Johnson's luggage from the trunk and threw a nervous salute, under the eyes of the security troopers who here holding their arms. Johnson's replied similarly and he then went back to his seat, engaged the engine and headed back to Nellis. After rechecking his identity again, using a hand held scanner to certify for the card's authenticity and searching his luggage bag, he then boarded another vehicle and headed to the main complex. 

The commanding general of Area 51 was waiting for him at the front door of a two level building made of gray concrete. He had been informed of Johnson's arrival ever since the first checkpoint and his apprehension had been growing since then. 

Johnson stepped out of the Humvee and saluted him. He answered it and, without bothering to hide his hostility, said: "Welcome to Area 51, Colonel Johnson".

"Thank you sir. I'm honored to be here". He had finally made it to the base after a frantic week during which he had flown nearly everyday from one place to another. First to Washington where he had been briefed on the aliens and was asked to command the first US X-Com team. After he had accepted it, he had gone back to Tennessee to get his personal belongings ready to be taken to Area 51, the most secret facility in the US that was used to test advanced craft and technologies. He had arrived yesterday to Nellis Air Force Base, a facility in the middle of the Nevada desert close to Las Vegas and also to Area 51.  

"Johnson, let's go to my office to have a talk". His voice made it clear that he wasn't pleased. 

 The General entered the building and started to pick his way through a maze of corridors, passing through another series of security checks. The soldiers responsible didn't even bother to check the general's identity card that he carried on his chest. They knew it was best as to stay out of the base's commanding officer's way when he was in such a mood, no matter what the security rules are. Johnson tried to keep up with him, the troopers stopping him in his case to check his clearance. 

As he turned around a corner he saw the General waiting for a lift on the opposite end of the corridor. He joined him and after some seconds followed the general as he entered the lift. The ride to the upper floor was speechless. When they reached the top he followed the base commander until he entered a door with a sign saying: General K. Smith. "Get in and close the door Colonel Johnson"

"Yes sir" As the lock of the door was sliding into the notch on the wall, Smith started talking: "I don't like you and your orders a bit"

"Sir?" The Chairman of the JCS had warned him that some military commanders had expressed their reservations towards the project. He simply wasn't expecting that the officer in charge of the installation where his team would be based would also be one of them. 

"I know what they say. I also know about who signed them and why he did it. I also don't know almost anything about you. But this is my base and around you there's an operation of the highest security clearance that could ever exist with almost all of our country's secrets. And I want everything to be kept that way, including the secret part". 

At least the General seemed to be trying to protect his own turf, not actually dismissing him completely. "Sir, this is one of the highest security operations ever also". He said, trying to inflate Smith's ego. 

"You are damn wrong about that. In a few hours a Russian plane will land here. I already have foreign military officers here present. Who knows what hidden cameras or recording equipment that plane might have? And how many of those officers aren't spies?"

Johnson realized that he had touched a sore point on his attempt. "They are commanders of combat troops, sir. With positions similar to mine".

"I don't care about your position. You will have quarters and working facilities assigned to you, your soldiers and the scientific and engineering personnel, although I don't like it. And I also don't like to have some of my best scientists assigned to this. The same with whatever base facilities are necessary. About the rest, you and your, what's their name again?"

"X-Com, sir".

"X-Commie force will be strictly forbidden to enter them, especially that Russian and his spy entourage. General base operations are still under my command, including security and communications, understood? You might command this Commie force of yours, but I'm in charge here".

"Very well sir. I have just one question". Johnson realized it was better to bring up the issue right away to know what he could expect. 

"Say it and be short". Smith looked at him in annoyance. 

"I can request more assets from this base if I decide so. What will happen then?"

"Yes you can, and most likely the President will authorize it, taking into account what you have already gotten from me. Which means that my mood won't get any better in the future. And it isn't getting now".

Although his attitude was on the border of the unacceptable, Johnson decider to try to smooth things out right now. "May I propose an agreement then?"

The General's heavy eyebrows came together but they moved back afterwards. "I'm not totally unreasonable Colonel".

"I shall consult you before I make such a requirement, sir". He didn't have to and the General knew it but it was a gesture of good will. "Like you said, this is your base and you have been running it for years. Your experience with this environment should be quite remarkable and although I have some more than able personnel to deal with flight operations, we could use your experience with planning such operations".

"It will be taken into consideration. Dismissed".

"Thank you sir". Johnson smiled to himself when he left. Base generals were all the same. If you manage to inflate their ego a bit they will be more than cooperative.

Later in the morning Johnson had noticed that the General required his presence at the tower. He went through a series of corridors, his sense of orientation guiding him. After taking a lift he walked into a room filled with sunlight that hurt his eyes. "Black ops people can't deal with the Sun, Colonel?"

"We can deal with everything sir". 

"Well, in any case, your commanding Commie officer is arriving in some minutes. I sure hope you can deal with him".

The Skyranger arrived after some minutes, with the pilot landing the craft the same way as he did at the demonstration at the Yakolev test field. When Johnson and Smith went to greet the passengers his hostility to strangers was back, but in a more discreet way, Johnson thought. After the official welcome to Area 51, the General excused himself. Johnson then led the group of men to the barracks occupied by X-Com. 

Commander Illyuschenko had called for all the regional commanders for a meeting the same day. Time was already running out and the proposed force was taking a lot of scarce resources to arrange and deploy. The result was delays that did not fare good. UFO activity was constantly increasing, as predicted. Pretty soon it could escalate into low-intensity war, although no more aggressive encounters had been reported so far. 

The dining room was full of military uniforms what were all distinct of one another, with some exceptions. They were the leaders of the several X-Com teams that were being assembled all over the world. The world had been divided into several geographical commands: North America, South America, Europe, Russia, India, Far East, Africa and Australia. Intelligence didn't have an idea about the alien's activities in the North and South Pole and due to the almost inexistence of population those areas had not been assigned with X-Com bases. 

"Gentlemen," Illyuschenko raised his glass "…to success". All nine men drank and then sat down again. Illyuschenko smashed his glass into one corner with the astonished looks of all his officials and started talking. 

"I'm afraid the good times are over for now, and hopefully for just some time. The days we spend here will probably be the only ones where all of us will be together, since operational constrains will limit your availability to leave your command. Nevertheless, we have a mission to accomplish: to defend our planet from alien aggression. We are in all of this  together, gentlemen. The human race will require everything we got and more. And while they might have an advantage on equipment and a clear objective unknown to us, we will have to surprise them and learn enough to defeat them. Your commands will be pretty independent in day-to-day operations, while most of the strategic planning will be done with me present. I will also be in charge of the scientific research and equipment requirements of the bases. And finally I will be the connection between us and the several nations and armed forces, through the Secretary General if necessary. Of course all of you already have the authorizations and direct connections to your country's leadership so use them also, but inform me of such operations". 

A hand rose immediately. "Yes, Colonel Santos, want do you want to ask?" The Brazilian officer raised himself. "What about intelligence sir?"

"Free to use the means available. In case of any need notify me stating your requirements. Several countries have already put at our disposition manpower and equipment. My command staff will centralize all the information and make it available to all of you. Our facilities will all be linked through a computer system that will allow us to share all data available".

As the Brazilian officer sat, the Chinese liaison to the Japanese team got up. "General, what about rules of engagement?"

"You have already received your orders defined by the political leadership of the UN, major Chen".

"But they mean pure aggression on our part. We won't even offer the aliens the chance to back down and surrender on our first engagement". Johnson looked at Chen, who was the lower officer present in the room, wondering what this was all about. 

"We have all seen what they are capable of, Major. They attacked a plane without any warning and destroyed it. If they really have any intentions of wanting to dialogue they would have done it by now".

"Sir, still my country strongly protests this course of action".

"Major" Illuyschenko slowly brought himself up "I don't care about what your country thinks. In all my life as a soldier I learned that one thing that doesn't work well with the military is political interference. Here you are part of a military organization under my command. If you feel morally obliged to refuse to participate in our operation you can ask to be replaced your High Command. But while you are under my orders you will follow by them and the rules of engagement established by all our countries. Is that understood?" 

Chen nodded in reluctance. "I didn't hear you Major".

"Yes," he then added "sir" with disgust. 

Looking around the officer to see if there were any further objections Illyuschenko found none to his satisfaction. "Very well. We shall now go over the status of all the teams. Colonel Johnson, from what I have understood your team is almost ready to initiate operations?"

"Yes sir. We presently have two F-22 interceptor craft that are operational. For weapons we are waiting for AIM-54 Phoenix missiles that have a range of almost 100 miles and should give us the ability to shoot down a UFO before it has the ability to strike back with one of those ray guns. Pretty soon we will adapt our craft to them, but in the meantime we will have to use the AIM-120 AMRAAM missile with a smaller range. To pilot those craft we have already recruited some experienced crews".

"And your ground team?"

"I have four squads of three men each available, drawn from the elite forces of all of my country's military. We are waiting for more men to arrive, with some also coming from Canada and Brazil. To transport them I have an MV-22 Osprey aircraft available. If we need to deploy them to places far away we will have to use standard military aircraft".

"Not anymore Colonel".

"Sir?" Those were important news to him. 

"I got word from the Secretary General and my President. The Skyranger aircraft that I have flown in is to be assigned to this area of operations, since your team is the most advanced. While I would have preferred it to be with my own Spetznaz teams, the truth is that your splendid preparations make it more logical to assign it to someone who could use it straight away. When do you think you can start operations?"

Illyuschenko's honesty made Johnson realize that he was going to like the man. And the new aircraft would also be much appreciated. "At the beginning of the next year, General. There really isn't that much training that we need to do. These men are all trained professionals and they know it. They just need to develop some team work."

"Very well then. My country will also supply you briefly with other weapons, as soon as I can get my military to give them off".

December 26th, 1998

CIA Headquarters, Langley, Virginia, US

Something in all the intelligence estimates made by the team just didn't work out right, Williams thought. Looking at the papers spread over his desk he considered what it could be, feeling that it might be something crucial. Again he went over the results of more than 50 years of work done on the subject by the US intelligence and military since the end of World War II. Besides Blue Book there were all sorts of reports: NORAD detections that extended over decades. A CIA study of the threat of UFOs to national security that was discontinued after more than a decade of investigations because no danger was detected, the whole affair being considered mass hallucination, misinterpretations and hoaxes. Incidents over Air Force bases had also been ignored after the initial reports. Something just wasn't quite right in here, he thought. Human stupidity is known to affect everyone, but in this case it just didn't seem natural. In fact, it looked that if the aliens hadn't stepped up their activity the whole thing would still continue to be ignored. Until when? The next Pearl Harbor? That gave a cold feeling to his stomach.

The analysis group had spent a portion of their last meeting trying to come up with some answers for that lack of foresight. While it was decided to establish an investigation on possible alien infiltration or influence, conducted under the FBI and the Defense Investigation Service, the military agency responsible for counter-espionage, some things just didn't fit the puzzle. If the intelligence services had been compromised then it would be reasonable to expect an alien first strike before the Earth's response was ready. Basic military tactic: take your enemy when he's unprepared. But their apparent inaction towards the establishment of X-Com didn't make any sense. Unless they saw it as irrelevant, which brought a chill to Williams' spine, since it could mean that all their efforts would be worthless. Maybe the X-Com teams would be swept away without a chance during their first engagements. 

He went to the window and looked outside. Snow was starting to fall again, covering the area around the CIA headquarters with a blanket of white. A blanket he thought, covering all their activity until recently. But how?

December 27th, 1998

Toyota Test Field, Central Japan

The tanks moved rapidly through the  middle of the grassy field, zigzagging as they negotiated the somewhat hilly terrain on their way to a bunker some hundred feet away. Suddenly one of them stopped, pointed its main weapon towards a trench located nearby the hut and let loose a volley that opened a hole in the bunker with an armor piercing round. Automatic fire came out of other sections of the trench targeting the tank responsible, which stopped firing and drove to a small group of trees to get some cover while the bullets were hitting the ground around it. The other tank meanwhile used the distraction to position itself closer to the source of enemy fire. As it brought its massive gun to lock on the trench, the fire suddenly started to redirect towards it. Too late. A rocket flew out of the barrel, hitting the front of the trench and throwing tons of earth into the air in an explosion that could be heard by the Japanese Prime-Minister in the control room of the test field, located not too far from where the action was going. The other tank moved up, meanwhile, and both of them annihilated the remaining opposition. 

"That concludes the demonstration of the Type 107 tank, your excellency"

The Prime Minister looked at the commander of Japan's Self-Defense Force. "Very well. I never had military training, but it sure looks impressive"

"Thank the Toyota engineers and project designers. They are the ones who developed it under our specifications"

"But I don't understand one thing. From what I remember about tanks they are big, massive weapons. Yet the ones deployed in this exercise seem to be small. How can that be? And what about the pilot? He must be cramped inside that vehicle"

"There is no pilot, sir. These machines are automated, using the latest developments in Artificial Intelligence. The computers on them will follow the orders of the ranking officer in the scene like any ordinary trooper."

Colonel Yamashita, the Japanese leader of the Far Eastern X-Com team asked in disbelief: "You mean they can think?"

"Actually no. Well, it depends on the matter of what Intelligence is. They basically can distinguish between a friend and a foe in their programming and act accordingly to opposition if they are left into that mode. They are basically like big computers developed to play chess, like Big Blue, the one that defeated Kasparov some years ago. But in their case the chess pieces are real, although they can't go against a human order, no matter how strategically unsound it might be". 

"I see, and why are they so small?" added the Prime Minister. 

"Modern warfare. Nowadays the emphasis is on the ability to transport such weapons as easily and quickly as possible without taking too much transportation effort. We had planned on equipping our paratrooper brigade with these weapons. And the miniaturization of our electronics industry allowed the tank to be so small, which is quite an advantage. It also can be deployed to places where tanks normally would have severe problems, such as mountains, forests and urban environments, because of its size and the ability to deal with difficult terrain"

"I look forward into receiving such a machine in my command then General. We need to study tactics to use these tanks"

"Unfortunately Colonel, that will take some months still."

"What?" The PM looked in dismay "We need them as soon as possible!"

"What you have seen out there is just a demonstration, your excellency, with the tanks being conducted by terminals far away. This project is away from being able to be deployed. The engineers report that they need to iron out the bugs in the software, so that the computer doesn't decide to start destroying everything around them."

"But why does it take that long?"

"A problem has risen recently. The design team lost our main software engineer in a car accident, who was responsible for the initial software code. They are working feverously to pick up his work, but it also means that they have to rethink a lot of the system since they don't have the general picture."

"Tell them then to be quick General. For that is the will of the Emperor and the faith of the Earth". The manager bowed his head. "Hai!"

December 28th, 1998

Kremlin, Moscow, Russian Federation

Larianov thought for a minute that the whole world was against him. Not just the whole world, he corrected himself, but also the aliens. How could he have made such a naïve mistake? Could his ego have influenced his reasoning? What had he missed? The French proposal had first presented itself as a marvelous opportunity for protection. A Russian in front of the force that would protect the Motherland and the world. And an assurance that Russia would have the best protection. What could have been better? 

His doubts began to rise the next day when he flew back to Moscow and talked to Illyuschenko, that unwilling, blind idiot! He seemed to think on the matter and shared many of his impressions on the first occasion, but he quickly realized that he was wrong about the man! Duty always! Duty that the Americans would have the first ready command! Not Russia! And he even gives them one of our few resources! How much time will have passed until they could defend themselves if this goes on like this? And his requests to the military! The latest infantry cannons to be distributed all over the world! The best special forces people! The building of two separate bases instead of using our own installations and allowing us to have direct access to X-Com operations and intelligence! And his refusal to allow their own intelligence agents to those bases! What were they getting from all this? Nothing, besides giving men and equipment! It seemed that they were nothing else than manpower and resources to draw from. 

He had considered if this hadn't been a trap from the first time. If the CIA and all western espionage agencies wouldn't have known for the first time what would be Illyuschenko's reaction. And the French, those arrogant cowards must have planned this with the Americans for a big piece of what will be discovered. And so he had been deceived. He wondered whom else in that room knew about this deal? Was Russia the only one? Because it turned out that the son of a bitch wasn't fanatically loyal to the Motherland like my Chief of Staff had said, he was fucking loyal to duty. The idiot should be dismissed of his position as commander of the military if he doesn't know the differences between the meaning of duty and nation!

He had summoned the Defense Council in the Kremlin for addressing those mistakes. "Gentlemen, these are hard times that need hard measures. I expect that you all performed as planned in the last days, otherwise your positions in this room will be in doubt, since your competency wouldn't seem adequate. And like they accuse us in the Western media, not everything of communist ways have been thrown away, have they?" He let the threat hanging in the air, while looking at the Chairman of the Federal Security Bureau, the agency that had replaced the KGB in the role of counter-espionage and internal affairs. After some seconds of silence after the tall bald man at the other side of the circular table had nodded, he then proceeded.

"Irinov, we can start with you, what's the status on the Mir and missiles?"

The Minister of Defense started speaking, apprehensive about what he would say. 

"In two days time a Soyuz capsule will take = off, carrying three cosmonauts to supplement the other three we usually have there. The Progress ship will take off about 5 days later with the necessary equipment".

"The so called mirrors?".

"Yes, and their necessary control and targeting equipment. We will also install more visual and reconnaissance equipment to allow it to be used as an observation point in space. It will give us a strategic advantage"

"And the missiles?"

"The first ABM missile has been retrofitted with an Anti Satellite ASAT warhead. Tests are being made to check the condition of both the missile and the weapon. This is not well maintained equipment President and it might take some more days until we can use it."

"And the others?"

"For the moment we don't have any more ASAT warheads available. However we can arm the missiles with small yield nuclear weapons that would destroy anything in their range or wreak havoc with the radiation"

"Do it"

"Yesss….sir"

"Mr. Verchenko, SVK report?"

The Chief of Foreign Espionage raised himself. 

"We have successfully infiltrated the American X-Com support personnel. We should start getting reports from them".

"Very well Mr. Verchenko, I'm quite impressed, those are unexpected good news".

"Thank you sir".

"I don't want to know any details. Your secret operations remain a secret. Just be the eyes for Mother Russia and let us know of everything. And what has your counter-intelligence counterpart have to say?"

Alexander Balyev had a public image of a sinister looking figure. He did nothing to repute that image and his voice at the Council sure reinforced it. "The media has been more than cooperative, Mr. President. Especially the press' managers. I think that the Government's position was made clear with those leaders. I put myself personally to that task. Abducted victims are taken off to isolated centers. And any remains of mutilations or strange phenomena are attributed to lunatics or terrorists or our own military craft".

"The trend of good news continues then. Finally you, Dr. Ziguanine. Most of my cabinet probably doesn't know you so please introduce yourself.

A gray mustached man lifted himself up and started speaking: "Thank you Mr. President. Gentlemen, what I will present you, more than talking about me, is one of the biggest weapons programs that the late Soviet Union had left us with and the reason why the Mir plays such a big importance in our plans".

December 31st, 1998

Unknown location, North America

Number One remembered that once there were elected officials or political leaders in the group. People for whom someone had voted and recognized them as their leaders. The same ones that had started his organization. When the last one died they realized that would never happen again. They just couldn't be trusted and their power would be temporary. Feelings could arise that would go against the group's interests. And their agenda could never go public at all. 

As he looked on the television screens to see the various New Year's messages from around the world's leaders he felt that their power was inferior to his. And that they had no idea of who really determined how things were. They all sent messages of union against all threats that are amongst them. That it was a time of changes. Sloppy made propaganda. To convince people of lies you have to make them look the other way, not prepare them for bad news. 

"What a façade." Number Nine moved in his chair. 

"Yes" One replied. "Paradoxically, you seemed to maintain yours pretty well until now"

Eleven pairs of eyes turned themselves towards Number Nine.

"If I didn't report the latest failures of infiltration on X-Com Russia it was because we still have some opportunities left"

"And if they succeed then you would present all the reports together, hiding your initial failures. Very well. Unfortunately for you my own sources reported this matter."

"It will just be a matter of time"

"Time is sparse. And management of information is crucial"

"Yes, we need the information"

"No, again you have missed the point"

Number One pointed at one of the monitors. A news program was showing some coverage where Number Nine was getting into a government building of some sort. 

"That is management of information, which you seem to be lacking right now. First that you would so recklessly use your replica meant to substitute you in such an open way".

"My men all have orders not to disturb me when I told them I'm not feeling well. There are also men of trust who know how to help out the clone."

"But imagine he makes an open blunder? Your whole position will be compromised"

The other ten pair of eyes quietly assented. Number Nine's position just had taken a dive. His word would be taken into less account and his resources would shrink until he could prove himself. But he was lucky. The Group well understood the need of deception even amongst themselves. And trying to cover up mistakes and blunders was a common error made by beginners. Not a fatal one, but a serious one nevertheless.

Number Nine waited for a sentence. When Number One turned his eyes away from him after some minutes and addressed Number Three, he knew he would still be able to leave the room alive. All the other members of the Group had sent a strong warning to him. They knew the value of patience and the dangers of rash action. 

"It seems the interference in the Japanese operation was more successful?"

Number Three immediately took the chance to raise his status a bit and replied. 

"Yes. We have acquired the plans of their new tank. And after getting the cooperation from the man responsible for the project we assured his removal from the project. It would be impossible to completely erase the research made without causing suspicions, but at least now X-Com will have to wait some more time before having access to the Japanese design". 

"And why did we miss the development of such a technological breakthrough?" Number One knew better than to let Number Three's ego and ambition go unchecked. He had given him some leverage to satisfy the man, but he couldn't allow him to go unleashed. 

"The Toyota Company had the project at a top secret level. Even the military wasn't informed until they had built the first prototypes. And you know how dedicated and loyal the Japanese can be"

"True, but besides the point. This development was a miscalculation"

"No, a general strategic surprise. We knew there is always the possibility of something like this going undetected by our operatives."

"You should have predicted it"

"The same way your entire previsions for drug consumption were completely off the mark, ruining our profit margin?"

So, the battlefield has changed, One thought. Very good. "We haven't really applied our mass hysteria plans yet. I'm sure the situation will change then"

"Really? So far there isn't even the slightest indication of such a trend. The flyovers and general uncertainty should have increased the use of opiates and cocaine by the general population, like you predicted, but we haven't seen that".

"And we are at the process of sustaining debts, due to the expenses we are making based on your financial projections, which is quite unacceptable", Number Four added. Number One didn't like the situation a bit. This could mean an alliance between two upper members of the ladder, which didn't fare well for the prospects of keeping his position in the near future. He looked at number Two who just nodded to him and spoke: 

"The plan is set. We should not care now about financial matters. Pretty soon all money will have no value". Two's position would be threatened if Three and Four had made an alliance for one of them to reach power. One knew that the only solution for Two would be to support him, if we wanted to keep his position. "Exactly".

January 1st, 1999

Area 51, Nevada, US

The North American team was up early and they had all presented themselves in the auditory of the base. All the men from the four squads were present and seated in their chairs, with Johnson and his executive officer, Captain Hunt, standing up in front of them with a covered table behind them. "All right, I hope you are all fresh this morning after last night"

That comment drew some bitter smiles from the assembled troopers. Johnson had allowed them to celebrate New Year's Eve for some hours. "We have some new toys to play with and I also will be changing each squad's assignments". That caught the soldiers' attention and Johnson carried on, uncovering the table. He picked up with effort a massive gun that looked like a small cannon, with six rotating barrels. 

"Meet the AGS-19 portable Autocannon, courtesy of the Russian military. So far we have been using M249 Squad Automatic Weapons and M240 machineguns, but now we will replace them for these".

"That is a big gun, sir. Won't it hinder our movements?" A Hispanic looking trooper with a mustache asked. He was one of the biggest men of the team and usually carried heavy weapons, but his strength enabled him to use them as if they were almost weightless. 

"That's why you are being reassigned, Garcia. To keep the squads mobile Delta will now be tasked with providing suppressive fire and armed with this weapon and" He paused to place the weapon back and lifting another cannon with only one barrel, but bigger. "This:  the OT-17 Heavy Cannon. While not being capable of automatic fire one shot of armor piercing from this weapon can penetrate almost all body armor, including Kevlar. Besides AP these cannons can also shoot HE and incendiary rounds".

Gunnery Sergeant Hopkins, an Afro-American six feet tall and possessing a massive chest, interrupted. "Sir, does that mean I won't get to keep Big Momma?" Mild laughter erupted from the enlisted men, only to be cut off when the black ex-marine started giving hard looks. The Gunny's affection for his LAW-2 rocket launcher was well known. Some even said the man slept with the damn thing. 

"Sarge, don't worry. You will keep Big Momma. What would be of us without her?" More laughter followed. After some moments Johnson cut off the laughter. 

"All right, as of this moment the North American team is on active status. We will go through the final team assignments and afterwards Delta heads out to the shooting range to get proficiency on the new weapons, while the others start exercising together. Captain, carry on".

André Galvão, 2001


	4. Skirmishing

January 3rd, 1999

X-Com – The Unknown Menace 

Chapter Three – Skirmishing

January 3rd, 1999

Caribbean Sea

As the sun began to set, a fire streak could be seem across the sky in the island of St. Lucia as an alien craft entered the Earth's atmosphere and desaccelerated to more than five thousand kilometres per hour. The UFO then corrected its course and moved towards southern Florida while maintaining the same speed, the 24-foot diameter disc slowly descending as it approached land. 

NORAD, Cheyenne Mountain, Colorado, US

Space Command had picked up the "fast mover" through the radar that had been set to cover possible missile launches against the United States and had informed Air Defence. The craft's estimated course was preoccupying General Bigelow, since its trajectory showed it to be heading awfully close to Kennedy Space Center. He decided to take action against it, but as orders were being sent for the National Guard and Air Combat Command interceptors to take off and go after it, the UFO had disappeared off the radar screens. Which only could mean one thing: it had landed nearby the facility. Bigelow caught the phone that connected him directly to the War Room in the Pentagon and when there was an answer on the other side he started speaking. 

Area 51, Nevada, US

Colonel Johnson was conducting another training exercise outside the facility when base communications requested his presence immediately on his intercom. He acknowledged and started running for the nearest jeep around. 

Security Center, KSC, Florida

The commander of the combined USAF/NASA security team assigned to the space facility was feeling very nervous. The whole center had just been ordered into condition Red by the Pentagon, without any further explanation, and he had stepped up security, but didn't had a clue about what was happening. He was in charge of the America's number one space facility and didn't have a clue about what was going on. 

Some minutes afterwards the whole southern section of the security fence alarm systems went off. Apparently the electrical power in that part of the centre had failed, although it had its own generator. He had sent one of his teams to investigate and was considering the whole situation when the radio went active:

"Base, this is team Echo, over"

"Echo, what do you have, over?"

"Sir, we are hearing a strange humming noise coming out of a section near the south eastern perimeter, in a swamp"

"What kind of a noise?"

"Uhh, well it's continuous, like a giant fridge or something"

"Any other activity?"

"Well, about some 15 minutes ago we saw a light in the sky"

"A light in the sky? What sort of light?"

"A white one, almost the size of the moon. It headed towards the swamp where we are hearing the noise right now. What shall we do sir?"

"Team Echo, deploy and investigate the marsh. Keep me informed"

There had been reports of strange events in the sky for a long time, but he had paid them no deed. This was NASA and they knew anything about the existence of extra-terrestrial craft they would have detected it by now. Or would they? He shook his head in disbelief. No, this must be a terrorist action or some espionage or sabotage done by some nation or group. He decided to wait before reporting Washington, until he had a clear picture of what was going on and not just report strange noises and lights in the sky, or they would think he was getting nuts.

Command and Communications Centre, Area 51, Nevada

When Johnson arrived at the C3 centre of the X-Com facilities at the base he found General Smith already standing there. 

"Looks like your Commies will have some action today, Colonel"

Johnson acknowledged his presence and then nodded to the technician that was running communications. A monitor that had a dark blue background with a red X superimposed on a circle on its middle suddenly lit up with the face of the Chairman of the JCS. 

"Colonel, some 15 minutes ago, NORAD picked up a fast mover heading towards Florida. When it reached land it dropped off radar but from its last trajectory we presume that it was heading towards Kennedy Space Centre."

"What's the word on them?"

"They have been ordered into maximum security, but with orders not to interfere. No further reports have arrived from them"

"Good. My team will be leaving in 10 minutes"

"Very well. Air Combat Command has fighter planes looking for the aircraft. We are also moving an E-3 Airborne Warning plane up, to see if its radar can pick the UFO and are deploying other reconnaissance assets so we might have more information by the time you get there"

"Understood. Area 51 out"

Johnson turned to the technician. 

"Inform all ground team members to report to the hangar fully equipped. Tell flight operations to prepare the Skyranger for immediate take-off. And notify Commander Ilyuschenko."

General Smith turned to him and said

"Well Colonel, now we shall see how good your force thinks it is"

Johnson thought of answering to him, but in the next minute he was already on its way to the Armoury to get himself equipped. 

Low Orbit, Earth

A KH-11 "Big Bird" reconnaissance satellite started using its correction jets to position his cameras to a location hundreds of kilometres below him. As it slowly changed his position, the electronic and visual eyes it possessed locked into Florida and started searching. Although a weather front was passing through the State, with heavy cloud cover, Space Command had decided to give it a try, hoping that a hole in the clouds would allow them to spot the UFO in the satellite's visual and infrared cameras. 

Area 51, Nevada, US

As Johnson reached the Armoury all of North American team was already there, waiting for orders. They had been divided into four squads, each with three men. Johnson and his executive officer, Captain Hunt, filled up the remaining capacity of the Skyranger. As he entered the room, Gunnery Sergeant Hopkins shouted:

"Attention! Officer in the deck!" Although they were not on a ship, the Gunny still hasn't been able to get rid of the Marine expressions. Or maybe he doesn't want to, Johnson thought, smiling to himself. They all stood up in attention but after a second eased up after Johnson waved off the salutes. 

"Everybody listen up really careful. An UFO has been detected heading towards Florida. The Pentagon thinks it has landed nearby, or at the perimeter of Kennedy launch facilities. Our mission will be to investigate for possible alien activity and neutralize it. But everyone will proceed with extreme caution, is that understood? Now go equip yourselves and board the Skyranger. We will leave in five minutes time. Any questions?"

After a brief moment of silence all men broke ranks and started collecting weapons and equipment.

Security Centre, KSC, Florida

"Base, this is Echo, we are being attacked! We need help right now!"

"Echo, what's your position?"

"We had just left our vehicle and entered the marsh when we started receiving incoming fire" Silence "Shit! That was close! "

"Nature of the attackers?"

"Unknown sir. Albert, get some cover right now! Tyson, don't stand there. Fuck!" More silence on the radio "Sir! Tyson is dead, some green ray just opened a hole in his chest the size of a toaster"

"Fall back at once"

"Trying sir, there's just too many of…" The transmission was suddenly cut off. 

"Echo, repeat the last sentence please". Only static greeted him. "What is going on there?"

Skyranger 1, over Louisiana, US

Johnson was going over his team's assignments and deployment when his radio cracked up.

"Colonel, Harris here. We have just left the vicinity of New Orleans and the top hats want to talk to you"

Johnson had decided that for now Harris would fly the Skyranger, until he had proven himself proficient at air combat missions. He had more than enough experience flying experimental aircraft. "Patch them through".

"Yes sir. And thank you for flying with X-Air, the only airline that is out of this world"

"X-Com, this is NORAD, over"

"This is Colonel Johnson, I'm reading you, over"

"Be advised. KSC sent a team to investigate and their last communications reported that they were under attack and were taking heavy casualties. No word from them has been received in the last 15 minutes. A base map with the possible location of the UFO is being uploaded to your system. We are trying to get some real time data, but the weather conditions over Florida aren't helping"

"Roger and out". Harris got a laptop from out of his seat, turned it on and connected it to a data line that would allow him to have access to the X-Com computer system. Then he started examining the tactical situation. 

KSC, Florida, US

The Skyranger landed about an hour later, nearby the abandoned vehicle of the security team, which was standing in a road that went around the Center's perimeter. As it was touching down, its rear door opened and the North American team begun to swarm from it, covering all sides of the aircraft. After the Landing Zone was secured, Johnson immediately started giving orders.

"Alpha squad, take right flank. Beta, move to the left. Gamma, take point.Delta, cover our asses and be ready to give support". All the men moved then without a word to the location of the UFO. 

They were wearing night vision goggles to increment the available light from the moon and the stars. The whole area looked deserted of any artificial construction, besides the lights of the security fence far away and the service road. But a humming noise, that reminded Johnson of a hive of angry bees, could be heard from a swamp that was near the southeast, inside the base perimeter. He got his binoculars and looked into that direction. Nothing could be seen besides the tall trees and a pool of stagnant water, not even the slightest movement. He touched spoke into his mike.

"Everyone watch out. They must be alert of our presence, so look out for ambushes."The team started to move slowly, When they got about halfway of the distance between the road and the line of trees, some 100 feet, a green jolt suddenly came out from the swamp. Johnson tried to shout a warning but it was too late. The point men of Gamma squad didn't even have time to scream. The light hit him squarely in the head, decapitating him. The rest of his body continued his motion for less than a second, then dropped to the ground. 

"Take cover! Delta squad, lay a pattern of suppressive fire in the direction from where that shot came!"

Andrews was the first to shot. After getting on the soft ground with his massive body he pointed his Russian AGS-19 portable Autocannon to the area where the sniper was concealed and started pouring high explosive rounds into it. In spite of the distance, the noise of the blasts was still quite deafening. Guided by the explosions that destroyed vegetation and splintered trees, all remaining members of the team started firing with their weapons. After ten seconds of a barrage of death, Johnson ordered them to cease-fire and had a look with his binoculars. Nothing could be seen. 

"OK, it looks as if the sniper has been neutralized. Let's carry on". 

As they approached more carefully the line that separated the swamp from dry land, its stench was turning out to be even worse. The rotten waters had calmed down and the fog had lifted a bit, but besides the humming noise, nothing else could be seen or heard. They entered the waters and started moving more slowly, not only because of the terrain but also to avoid making noise that would give their position away. The three forward squads had expanded the line to the sides, to allow them to avoid possible flanking manoeuvres by the aliens, searching with their weapons all the time for possible hostiles.

Johnson's intercom came alive and he ordered his squad with a gesture to stop. "Alpha here. We found one of the security team's bodies. It took a shot in the head from behind. Brain and face are all gone"

"Any vestiges of the aliens?"

"Zero"

"Beta, any sight of the sniper?"

"We just reached the area. It is completely wrecked by gunfire. No bodies found. There's some green ooze in some leaves though. It looks like alien blood or their equivalent."

Shit. That would mean the alien would still be out there, although probably injured. "Beta and Alpha, keep moving. Beta, keep an eye on his trail"

"Roger"

The team continued to move, with Johnson speeding up a bit to join Gamma team. The humming noise could be heard more strongly know, and pretty soon Johnson spotted a weird form that was standing in the middle of a small clearing in the swamp. 

"Movement!" called a voice "10 o'clock, 30 feet away". That would be Trooper King, of Alpha,Johnson thought, while ordering its team to stop.

"King, talk to me"

"I can see him hiding behind a red tree. I picked him up because of the disturbance he made in the still waters"

"Did he spot you?"

"I don't think so"

"Alpha, try to circle him. King, if he even sneezes take him out. Beta, what's the status on your flank?"

"We have discovered a strange looking weapon that was lying in the water" Suddenly an alien shriek filled the air. "What was that?!" Johnson demanded on the radio. Gunfire from his left side was the only answer. "Alpha team, report your status!"

"Sir, this is King. The sound didn't came from here but when the alien heard it, it started moving. I took him down as ordered. Alpha team reports no other activity."

"Beta, what happened?"

"The scream came from the front of us. We stayed put and are waiting for orders sir"

"Alpha and Beta cover both flanks. Gamma, let's move out towards the alien craft. Delta dug in and prepare to give us some cover."

Johnson and his two men started to move towards the puddle where the craft had rested. No, not rested, Johnson corrected himself when he came closer. It was hovering just inches over the water. Maybe the aliens don't like to get their feet wet, he thought. As they carefully reached it he could see the grey metal colour of it. The craft was completely circular and totally smooth, with no equipment or openings discernible. When they reached it, Johnson touched it. It was cold and it looked as if it had been moulded or made out of one piece.

"Let's try to find an opening. Alpha and Beta, start circling the craft. Gamma, when they reach their positions we move. Rodriguez, you take the right side, Jones the left. Delta, split and give both sides some cover"

When both side teams started to move, all hell broke out. First some strange sounds here heard by everyone and a greenish hue could be seen on both sides of the craft, then the human screams started to fill out the radio, followed by gunfire. 

"What's going on?" Johnson had to scream to make sure he was being listened because of the cries of pain on the radio channel. 

"Sir, Hopkins here. There are hostiles nearby the UFO, on the opposite side of the craft. One of my men got hit and it looks pretty badly. It has burned his left chest"

"King here. We also got hit and are firing back. The Lieutenant is dead. They are invisible, we can't just see them from this distance"

"Shit". Johnson contemplated his options. He needed to spot the threats and direct more suppressive fire to that side of the craft, before both teams would be eliminated. But for Delta to get into position it might take too long, unless...

"Rodriguez and Jones, charge the other side of the UFO!"

Both troopers didn't even hesitate to comply with the order. Johnson followed Rodriguez as he dashed around the craft. When he completed turning around it, he saw three bigheaded figures that were crouched on the ground, turned sideways, with one shooting at Alpha team and the other two at Beta. They suddenly moved as if they had detected Gamma's presence, but failed to turn and respond to it quickly enough. Johnson and his troopers were already pulling automatic fire into them from their M4A1 automatic carbines. The M4 had been developed from the M16 rifle as a submachine gun and the version X-Com was using was a Special Forces adaption, with the option of full automatic fire. The one alone on the right died almost instantly as both Johnson and Rodriguez unleashed their weapons power on him. Rivers of green gore came out of places where the bigheaded alien got it. On the other side Jones had killed one of them and the other was almost firing at him when Rodriguez did a small correction of his rifle and killed him with a direct hit on its head. The alien dropped to the swamp, lifeless. 

"Jesus Christ, what a mess!" Jones cried out.

"This isn't over yet. There might be some more inside the craft. Delta, get your Heavy Cannons up here and load them up with armour piercing rounds. These guys are hard to take down". The two men armed with the other contribution from Russia, the OT-17 heavy cannon moved quickly. The weapons were designed to provide long-range heavy stopping power, but during their training the North American team had discovered that they could also be useful in close combat, when you had to take your enemy down quickly. They all started inspecting the side of the craft until one of them said: "I think I found an opening". 

Johnson took off his night vision goggles and looked. There was an almost undistinguishable rectangle that seemed to form a door. "And how do we opened it now?" he asked. 

"Well, what if we give it a push?" The Delta squad man pushed the door and it suddenly moved upwards, disappearing into the fuselage of the craft. The motion surprised him and he never had time to reach to the energy discharges that came out from the opening. Johnson only saw his torso disappear under a green light.The trooper's arms, shoulders, neck and head fell down on the water, still holding the heavy cannon. After a moment his legs, which were still standing up, dropped on the swamp and joined them. Johnson immediately reached for a grenade, pulled the pin and threw it to the inside of craft before the door had completely closed. A muffled explosion was heard minutes later coming from the inside of the UFO. 

"Rodriguez, Jones, Garcia, come up here. On my mark I will open the door again and we will take down everything still moving inside". Johnson pushed the door again as they joined him on the sides of the opening. They pointed their guns inside and kept their bodies out of the door, but no enemy fire came out this time. The Colonel then, very carefully, took a look inside. A metal cylinder was standing in the middle of the room, giving out an orange light. Two seats were fused to the floor on the left side, in front of some monitors. And four aliens were lying on the ground along with their weapons, their bodies cut by the shrapnel of the grenade.

"UFO secure. Check out the bodies to see if they are really dead and let's clear the perimeter, troops".

After ten minutes checking the swamp, they found no other aliens alive. Apparently the shriek heard before come from an alien found a hundred feet away from the craft that must have been the initial sniper. It must have been severely hit while trying to get away from the suppressive fire and it then had bled to death. Johnson didn't feel any remorse. Four of his men were dead, the trooper from Beta dying from the massive shock of his injury, before medical attention arrived from the Space Center. The discovery of the remaining corpses from the KSC's security force increased his anger. The aliens had cut up some of them and they had parts of their bodies missing, as if they were cattle. But they had succeeded on their first mission. And more important, they knew the aliens could be killed on the ground. A CH-53E Super Stallion heavy transport helicopter borrowed from the Marines was already on its way to help move the UFO to an airfield where it would then be flown back to Nevada. They know had a door to the alien's technological secrets, if they knew how to open it. 

New York City, US

Hours after the encounter, Number Three was seated in a chair facing a desk where a communications terminal had been set in. The 86th floor penthouse had a magnificent view to the Hudson River as well as Wall Street. He joined being up there, because it gave him the impression of power, looking over the glass windows down to the street below and seeing all the little people going through their lives, not knowing anything about what hovered over them. But he was starting to feel that his same power was becoming threatned and, he might end up back among the ordinary humans below him. The report he had just got from Number Seven had accentuated that fear. X-Com's first mission had been a success. A Phyrric one, with the loss of almost one third of the men involved, but they still had been able to kill all the aliens and capture a working craft. That was bad. It meant that the Group was losing control over things, over technology they had been the only ones on Earth to acquire and that had took many work to keep it secret. And their actions would prompt more alien activity, with the result escalation of events and general world knowledge of the UFO situation. And if the Group's intentions ever were revealed he knew they would be convicted for treason to the human race. Control was being lost over the aliens also. Not that they had ever been capable of really knowing what they were up to, but they knew about their interest on Earth and generally predict their actions. But he sometimes wondered about the opposite, if they weren't deceiving the Group itself. 

He had been the first one to be informed by Number Seven, which had his own sources inside KSC and shared the same doubts about humanity in general having access to alien technology. And they had also a strong belief about themselves and the power and necessity of an elite in these dark times. He knew something had to be done about this X-Com force, so he isolated himself in silence until he had came up with a plan. 

London, United Kingdom

On the other side of the Atlantic, Number Two was considering the same question also while having breakfast. He had a troubled night after being awakened to receive the report. There would be a meeting in a few days to discuss the new events and he knew that deviations were already happening to the plan. Other possibilities were presenting themselves and he was afraid that the Group was too stubborn of years of routine to see them. Not all of the 12, of course, but that the majority, including Number One, hadn't taken into account, for first, the reaction of the nations of Earth and also about the potential of the X-Com team. Although all those men were elite professionals, their success with dealing with the aliens had surprised Number Two. Others had tried going into combat with the aliens. And while on most cases it had been the matter of being at the wrong time and place for the humans since they got chewed to pieces, in others the Group had sent his men to test the aliens, disguised as ordinary military of the nations of Earth. Few ever survived these encounters and after their briefing they would be disposed of. The Group had never been interested into forming a combat force to deal with the aliens. They knew it would be a waste of effort and resources. The aliens had proven themselves superiorly in numbers and in combat. Until now. It looked as if humans could military defeat the aliens, if properly led and using the right tactics. Earth's technology had advanced on its own in the last years and while it looked awfully primitive when compared to the aliens it could hurt them. 

Two suddenly started to realize what would happen if X-Com had access to more advanced technology. Then they would be a military force to be reckoned even by the aliens. And while diminishing their influence and pressure over the Group, it would allow also to guarantee some safeguards about the aliens. Yes, this X-Com had to been seen as a most desirable asset, not like a threat at all. 

January 10th, 1999

Area 51, Nevada, US

Colonel Johnson was waiting for General Illyuschenko to leave the Skyranger. A cold wind was coming from the North and he buttoned his service coat a little higher. The days after the raid had been frenetic on the base's research teams. While Johnson shared some of their excitement, another feeling was stronger. The deaths of his men. It had been hard for all of the team. While those men had been working together for a few time and relationships hadn't yet been formed it had been a hard blow for all of them. Still, the training sessions had helped them cast aside their thoughts. Now they knew the enemy and what he was capable of and, more important, that it could be killed. 

General Illyuschenko left the Skyranger that had brought him all the day from Russia, with stopovers of a few hours in Paris and Washington. Although it would be expected for anyone to be showing the effects of jet lag, the General looked as if he had just woken, completely alert. Behind him came some civilians and, after them, some reinforcement troops. The attack had left them a bit unmanned and Johnson was afraid to having to commit the understrenght team in the last days. He looked at the eight uniformed men and they lined up and stood up. He was relieved. Now their losses would be filled up and he also could form a replacement squad to cover for future casualties. The latest to leave were a group of men in suits. He knew exactly who they were and what was their mission. But he still hated intelligence officers. They always made him nervous. He moved to join with Illyuschenko and the two men saluted when they met.

"Welcome back to Area 51, sir"

"Thank you Colonel. I am most pleased to see you again and I wish to congratulate you for your success. Well done"

"Thank you sir, although I wouldn't call it exactly a complete success" 

"I know Johnson. Believe me, I would do anything I could to bring those men back. But they made a courageous sacrifice and for the most noble cause."

"Well, I would prefer not to talk to much about the subject now, sir"

"I understand" The turned to the leading civilian that had stopped some feet behind him. "Dr. Chevereux, could you please come over and meet Colonel Johnson?"

The white haired men approached the Colonel with some fear. 

"Dr, this is Colonel Johnson, commander of the North American team of X-Com, based at Area 51"

"Colonel Johnson, this is Dr. Chevereux, our scientific leader."

They exchanged handshakes but didn't said anything. Then the scientist turned to Illyuschenko and said:

"That we will still have to see General. I agreed to come with you here just because you actually threatened me if I didn't come here to see it with my own eyes"

Johnson looked puzzled at the General. 

"It's all right Johnson, the Doctor here refused the UN offer calling it a nonsense, but now it seems he will join us"

"It is a nonsense! UFOs? Aliens? The things you are talking about are un-scientific and are proved to not exist. This thing here is a complete waste of time."

"See what I mean, Colonel? So I told him, err, convinced him to come and see the proof for his own eyes"

Colonel almost took a shiver. The aliens still made him had that reaction.

"Very well sir."

"I want us to be shown the evidence now, Colonel, if you please"

"Very well, sir. Just let me welcome the rest of your passengers and dismiss my new men, General"

"Please do it"

Johnson turned to them all and said: 

"Welcome to Area 51, gentlemen. My name is Colonel E. Johnson and I am the commander of the North American X-Com team. You now don't belong to your services or countries anymore. Now you fight for Earth and against the greatest menace of all. The things you will learn from this day on will come as a shock but they are real, gentlemen. And remember your duty always in those times and let it guide you." He turned them to his troops "Sergeant Hopkins will guide you to your quarters and later you will receive a full brief and meet the rest of the team. Sergeant, lead them on"

"Yes sir. Company, attention!"

While Hopkins started to make the new recruits life as much miserable as possible, although those men all belonged to elite units and couldn't be easily pushed, Illyuschenko turned to Johnson:

"A most impressive speech Colonel"

"Thank you sir, but I just made it up on the occasion"

"More impressive even. Now, show us the aliens"

"This way please sir"

The cryogenic storage unit was situated into the depths of the base, giving it the most appropriate mood, Johnson thought. The laboratory of the monsters. The stench the things gave off when they died was terrible, Johnson remembered. And while it was gone now, just the look of the dead alien in front of him reminded him of that smell. But another feeling was also more prominent. The one of biological repulsion. The thing there wasn't anything of this planet and his body reacted with disgust to it. Illyuschenko and the scientific staff of Chevereux had that same reaction also when the cold storage drawer where the body was kept had been opened, although in the scientific group's case it should be more the feeling felt by scholars in the late Middle Ages when someone proved to them that the world was round, instead of flat as it had been said before for centuries. 

"C'est incroyable!"

"Mon Dieu."

"Silence." Dr. Chevereux said firmly. All the excitement stopped and he turned to the General and spoke: "Sir, I appear to have been wrong. I ask you to apologize me for my blindness. I will gladly and dutifully accept the UN invitation as Scientific Leader of X-Com and will fulfil my role to the best of my abilities"

"Thank you Dr. for accepting the job. I am happy to have you fighting with us. Colonel, what have your scientific team found out the aliens so far?"

Johnson turned to his chief scientist, who he had asked to be present. "Dr. Mantell, could you please answer that?"

"Gladly. Well for a start, we recovered some nine alien bodies from the area, in several levels of damage. From what we had pictured, from autopsies and all full type of biological exams, these creatures have some interesting traits. For instance, our initial genetic studies show that they are all clones"

"Clones?" Chereveux asked, "How can it be? A society of clones would be always at peril of genetic errors and grave mutations"

"We don't know Dr., but that's what we are trying to find out. About their anatomy, they show greatly a greatly atrophied digestive system and traces of what have been sexual organs. They basically have no natural way to surviving and reproducing themselves."

"They are greatly advanced in genetic engineering then"

"Yes. And their head is disportional to their body, compared to a human, which would suggest a greater intelligence because of the bigger brain. Their eyes are also much bigger and it seems they are capable of seeing in the dark better than us. That has been also verified in the encounter. Finally, and this is a remote hypothesis, they may have evolved from marine animals."

"How did you come up to that conclusion?"

"Their skin is similar to dolphins and such like mammals, although I wouldn't call this aliens mammals since they remind me more of an insectoid species. They also have vestiges of what looks to be webbing between their fingers, which would suggest that their limbs were used to swim in the past."

"Interesting. What else do you have?"

"Well they don't have vocal cords. The most probably theory to explain how they communicate can be quite unbelievable, but he are considering it"

"After what I saw today I shall take few truths for granted, Dr. What is it?"

"Some sort of telepathy. Their ears appear less developed than ours and can listen to sounds audible to humans. However they where never seen to make any sound, unless when dying and while not wearing of communication devices where capable of coordinating their operations together, while away of visual sight of one another". 

"You think the larger brain could be something to do with this?"

"We are still running a lot of tests, but I will be able to give you a full report from biology in two days, sir. The other departments will take longer"

"What other departments?"

The Dr. looked at Johnson who just nodded. 

"Physics, Aerodynamics, Computers and Engineering"

"What?!" Chereveux couldn't believe what he was hearing "Mon Dieu! What else have you captured?" Johnson stepped in "A flying saucer, Dr. A UFO. And a lot of alien toys also for you scientists to play with. Please follow me and you will see it now"

After showing to the scientists the captured UFO he excused himself to make his own presentation to the Intelligence Spooks and General Illyuschenko. He met with them about some two hours later and the proper presentations then took place. Illyuschenko begun speaking to Johnson:

"We have all seen the biological analysis to the aliens, Colonel, so please give us now your military evaluation of them."

"Yes, sir. Well, these things, while fragile looking, can be very dangerous. For starters they are extremely intelligent. They knew they were outnumbered and acted accordingly, with the use of snipers and trying to ambush us by using their superior night vision. Fortunately for us, they probably were expecting that we would panic in the middle of their attacks, like the KSC's security team probably did, so they weren't really expecting such a reaction from our part. While this is an advantage now, it can quickly change as they learn of our success. Still, most of our tactics worked out which is a blessing. Our weapons are also capable of killing them, although it seems they are more resistant than their appearance would suggest. For instance, sometimes they would need several bullets before going down. But their head appears to be their weak spot."

"And what about their weapons?"

"They were using two types of weapons sir that would correspond to a pistol and a rifle. They release some green energy bolt that has tremendous power. Our body armour is almost ineffective against it." Johnson didn't like that thought at all "For some unknown reason, the weapons weren't working anymore when we picked them up, but the scientists are going like mad hungry dogs over them."

Williams turned to Johnson and asked

"Very well Colonel. You have done an excellent job and it will help us on ours. Now we need to ask you some questions. Just give us straight answers please, what you really believe and not what you think we would like to hear"

Well the Spook seems reasonable, Johnson thought and nodded "Please ask"

"In your opinion, how can we correct our tactics to go against the aliens?"

"Sir, I would say avoiding fighting at night with them for a start. And develop better weaponry and protection for my men. And finally discovering what they are up to."

"Very well. Would you characterize their actions at KSC as aggressive or of a defensive posture?"

Johnson nearly exploded on that question and tried to keep his anger away from his voice. "Aggressive for sure! This things, this insectoids, like Dr. Mantell called them, you should have seen what they done to the Center's security team's bodies. They even shot one from behind on his head, never giving the guy a chance. And then they cut them up. The inside of the UFO looked like a slaughterhouse! They have something bad coming up for us, gentlemen, of that I am completely sure of." He breathed and relaxed a bit "I apologize for my reaction"

"It's quite natural, Colonel. Don't worry. Now we are interested in one more matter, more delicate, we may say. What I am about to say may never be discussed or even mentioned out of this room, gentleman". Both military men nodded.

"What is it?"

"We suspect of alien infiltration into our societies"

"What?!" The Colonel and the General looked in astonishment.

"Not even Mr. Davis, here on my side, who is of the FBI counter-subversion department, agrees completely with that claim, but there's something logical to it. The aliens possess a lot of intelligence about us. While most of it came from observation and the abductions, they also seem to know more intrinsic aspects of our society. Take, for instance, the intrusion on KSC. Or many other incidents dealing with military bases. We also suspect that the flyovers are a form of psychological warfare by their part. Therefore, they must have their own agents living among us. How far our society maybe compromised is still to find out, but we need to take steps to avoid that happening to X-Com. Both of you are receiving this report because you have been checked and, quite frankly we believe that the odds of you being double agents are quite low. But we don't know if this infiltration has already begun in your force." Johnson couldn't believe what he was hearing. If it ever got known it would break the morale and cohesion of the team apart. They would be looking at one another, thinking about it.

"That's grave news, Mr. Williams"

"And rumours are already out about your force, fortunately only in military and intelligence circles. While they are almost gossip and general speculation, those sort of rumours would be one of the things that such an agent would investigate. Which mean that we will have to triple-check the life of every X-Com member, because if we don't we will be heading into serious trouble"

"Very well, I shall provide you with the files of all my men. But please be extremely discreet. My team would cease to exist as a combat unit if word leaked out to them"

"I understand. One last thing: have you noticed any unusual difficulties in implementing your work? From individuals or organizations?" Both military men replied negatively. "Very well, we shall leave you now gentlemen. How about if we meet later in the evening?"

After the intelligence team left, both Johnson and Illyuschenko stayed in the Colonel's office.

"I always hated intelligence officers. Although they are not as so egotistical and getting their noses into everything here, there's still some thing about them I can't stand"

"Me too sir. But what if they are saying can really occur? We need to take precautions"

"I know. The first one will be to, like they said, confine this information to this room. I can imagine only they and your President and his intelligence directors, besides us now, know the last part of the report. The less people who know it, the less chances it will have to reach an infiltrator. He will be slacking a bit after a while, and that will give us an opportunity to catch him"

"But what if acts to disrupt us?"

"We may never know if indeed there is one. So we will continue to act as if nothing is different. But we will keep an eye on things."

January 12th, 1999

Geneva, Switzerland

As he looked over the window to see the lake, Number One reminded that this was the same city that had seen the birth of X-Com. Coincidentally, the same matter that had brought him here now, the discussion of their recent activities. He was annoyed. Too many bickering was taking place in the Group and they had to remain focused if they want to keep control. Some were arguing that I was a grave mistake to allow the Earth's nations access to modern technology. Others that the X-Com force could play a bigger role in their plans. He then turned to again regain his attention to the center of the table and start demolishing his opponent's arguments. 

"This is pointless", he started, "your claims are close to ridicule"

"We hadn't properly analysed the potential of this X-Com outfit. We need to reassess our plans now taking it into account". Number Eight was arguing.

Number Three responded: "They have to be destroyed. They are threatening us because they will make the aliens advance even faster their timetable. Which could mean that we won't be ready on time"

"So far our skirmishes with the aliens have always resulted into disaster. We had assumed that building and maintaining a ready force to engage in warfare with the aliens was pointless, because the operation would be too big to be concealed and we would show the aliens our real intentions". Number Eight looked surreptitiously at Two, who just lowered his eyelids. "This X-Com force is a strategic asset that we can't deny"

"Bah! They have managed some success so far, but that won't last when the aliens start to react to them. They will be simply squashed"

One decided that the discussion was enough and that it should end. 

"Both of you have never considered properly the new dimension this X-Com force would bring into the conflict, even now" He let a sinister voice out "But I have, since the first moment of its creation. You claim that mankind in general cannot have access to this technology. It would severely change the balances of power on our society. It is correct. But also the fact that it is in X-Com's hands only help us more. So far they are running a concealed operation, trying to avoid interference from the government when possible. Which means that if we take over the organization, little will have come out to the public or even the world's governments." He paused and continued: "And for the fact that we haven't analysed their potential, well we have knowledge of the aliens. We know what they are capable of and also what humans are capable of. We have a natural tendency to adapt to new situations. Theirs is not as developed as ours, because of their dependence on technology to even live. It isn't hard to see that they will have some successes and some failures. But, while they are doing that, they will provide us with necessary information. And also the aliens will have to divert resources to this threat to their plans. But we have spoken too much. Let's call a vote and see what is the decision of the majority"

His faction still was the biggest, although not the majority, and the other two would never compromise so the result was known from the start. They approved the continuation of his plan, although some abstained or even voted against it.

Far Side, Moon

A massive alien fleet was orbiting the Moon, using it as a shield against detection by Earth's telescopes and other detection means. More ships were arriving every week, reinforcing it. Pretty soon, the Sectoid Commander on the command bridge of one of the larger ships thought, operations would be stepped up in Sol Three. He had already sent recce ships to find places suitable for the missions that had been ordered by High Command, in addiction to the scientific missions and fleet supply runs to the surface of the planet. But a disturbing factor had come up a few days before. One of his ships had sent a report of defeating a band of armed humans that were approaching it. Then, a few hours later their psychic link had been severed, which could only mean that they were dead. He had informed High Command of the occurrence and was waiting for an analysis and answer. It could take days to arrive, so he decided to keep up with the plan. 

January 21st, 1999

Border of Texas and Mexico, US

"Tally Ho!" Harris shouted when he picked up the UFO on the long-range television camera situated on the top of the nose of his plane. The device was capable of picking up a target at more than 60 miles away. He was piloting one brand new F-22 Lightning 2 interceptor jet and was chasing an alien craft that had entered the US through the Gulf of Mexico, and was in their way to the Four Corners area.

It was good to be flying against a supersonic jet, doing combat missions, Harris thought. Colonel Johnson hasn't really pleased when he announced to him that his flight status was being upgraded because of a sudden flu that hit both the certified pilots for the F-22s sitting at the hangars on Area 51. 

"Command, I have one UFO on my screen, range 43 miles, at angels six, speed Mach 1.5. Type is Apollo like capsule. Request permission to engage. Over"

"Comanche, this is Command. You have permission to engage. Good hunting"

"Roger that. Preparing to launch Phoenix." His hands went over the buttons that transferred information from his radar to the weapon. After one second, a warning tone came to his headphones. " Missile locked into target. I got a good tone. I'm taking the shot now!" He released the master safety switch and pressed the trigger button on his control stick between his legs "Fox Three! Missile away!"

The missile dropped for a second then lighted up his engine and started going at hypersonic speed towards to UFO, guided by the aircraft's radar. When it got close to the craft the missile's own radar went active, looking for the UFO and making a final correction before going into the craft. It didn't even tried an evasive manuver or anything as it approached it. When it approached the craft close enough the proximity fuse of the warhead was triggered and kilos of explosive detonated. The blast almost completely destroyed the UFO, its remains falling quickly out of the sky.

"Damn! Those things are fragile! Command, this is Comanche. The UFO completely blew up when it got hit by the Phoenix. I don't think the ground team will find much to pick up, over"

"Roger that. Return To Base, Comanche, and good work"

Harris smiled. This was his second kill in about a week. The first one had been a circular UFO that had been detected over Northern Canada. He had hit it with another Phoenix and it had felt down out of the sky and crash-landed it. Johnson and his people had gone up there to retrieve the UFO and they managed to kill the alien survivors of the crash while only loosing two more people, one dead and one with a serious burn on his side, while killing the four survivors. And while the first ever UFO kill had belonged to the European team on the day right after the KSC's ground assault, he still was damn proud. Two UFO kills, he thought. Just keep the bastards coming. 

January 22nd, 1999

Sea of Japan

The MC-130H Combat Talon II transport craft flew so close to the stormy seas that Colonel Yamashita sometimes thought that pretty soon they would have to swim back to land. His X-Com Far East team was at the cargo bay of the aircraft, each wearing jump uniforms, with parachutes attached to them and doing the final checks on them. An UFO had been detected over the Sea of Japan, heading for the Korean Peninsula. Although the interceptors couldn't get enough speed to catch it and the team hadn't a Skyranger yet and wasn't declared fully operational yet because of that, a contingency had been developed by the team, who were eager to enter action. Yamashita and his executive officer had devised one plan to deal with UFOs using classic transportation that immediately presented to General Illyuschenko. It had risks but the go order was given. The Far Eastern team had then requested the assistence of an American C-130which had been special built for infiltration. The plane had took off from Kadena Air Base and had picked them up at Complex YY-18, the Far East X-Com's base situated at the island of Hokkaido in Japan. 

By then the UFO's flight plan had led him to a location over North Korea, where it had dissapeared off the radars. Since the North Koreans had been considered as an unstable nation by the national representatives to the X-Com council, they couldn't let them know about the threat ask for permission to fly and engage the enemy on their territory. But the remote area on which it had landed made it a perfect target for a covert operation. But if they were caught there would be hell to pay. 

So they had flew into the sea and them turned almost 90 degrees to the west to enter North Korea. He hoped that their air defence system didn't go into alert with the UFO, but chances of that happening were considered low, since they didn't know what they were looking after and their radar technology still dated back to the 70's. 

They would make a low altitude drop over the area after having located the UFO. Then they would advance and eliminate all oposition, making way for the MH-53J Pave Low III multi-mission helicopter that would arrive two hours later to pick them and bring as much as possible from the UFO.

His team was ready, Yamashita thought. They had been eager to fight ever since the secret ceremony at the Imperial Palace, headed by no loss than the Emperor himself. Until now he had been a diffuse but worthy of high prestige and devotion to Yamashita, but after meeting him and hearing his words, he really understood his path. In an evocation of Japan's martial past a samurai's swords had been given to all Japanese warriors of the X-Com team. He had called them men with a sacred mission, for whom Japan should pay his respect to warriors who would defend it and Earth. While it remembered the nation's recent bloody path it would also mean that the Empire of the Rising Sun needed all of his soul to survive this threat.

Looking at his men, he noticied that all of them had the Emperor's swords attached to them as part of their equipment. The use of the katana hasn't new to Japanese special forces, who went to various courses of martial arts in their training, neither was ignored their potential in close combat. But he saw that this would be the first time that the weapon would be unsheated by them. Their trust in their capabilities of the swords was total, because of their provenience. 

Major Chen had mocked their consideration for the katanas and he was glad that the insidious man wasn't here or its sarcasm would be worse to bear when he noticied that they were bringing the swords to combat. He was a real annoyance. Although Yamashita was technically a superior to him, his role in the FE team was more of a liaison, so he wasn't in command of Chen. Which meant that his attitude was more destructive than construtive in meetings and around the base. Yamashita remembered in relief that the Major didn't have parachute wings, so he wasn't qualified to accompany them to the mission. An officer of an elite combat without jump qualifications was something that the Colonel had never seen before, but he silently just accepted the fact. Five minutes to reach North Korea, informed his radio. He prepared for finding the UFO and getting into action. 

January 27th, 1999

Operations Center, Area 51, Nevada, US

Johnson and his executive officers were looking through the last reports sent by General Illyuschenko and the X-Com Command, which was on the process of moving to the European team's base, located in an airfield at the Black Florest, Germany. 

"The full report from the Japanese team's raid in North Korea just arrived" Hunt started. "They managed to capture the UFO, although they had to strip it for parts afterwards and leave a carcass to the North Koreans. It was too heavy for the helicopter to lift."

"How many casualities?"

"Three killed and another two in the hospital, one badly injured and the other got off lightly. And by the way, the one who got lightly was Colonel Yamashita."

"How did that happened?"

"When they were storming the inside of the craft the grenade didn't kill all the aliens, so he just bursted inside with his sword"

"What happened?"

"The alien was holding one of their pistols and fired it but his firing skill must have been shaken because of the grenade, since he pressed the trigger a bit too early. Yamashita got a scratch on his thigh and the alien lost his head."

"Jesus! I hope they aren't seeing too much ninja movies"

"Me too"

"What else?"

"Dr. Chevereux's team in the European base have started their investigations, but it's too soon to espect anything from them."

"Let's hope they don't take too long"

"Our two pilots should be fully recovered next week. What do you want to do with Harris?"

"Let's keep the three of them proficient for Transport and Interceptor roles. That way we can prevent more situations like this to happen. And Harris has been going very well so far. Doing everything by the book, acting with his reason. I can't think of a possible reason to keep him away from the F-22s"

"Yeah, I agree with you Colonel"

"Good. And Hunt?"

"Yes sir?"

"How are the men doing?"

"Losses have been big sir. They are all having a tough time, like we all are accepting that, but I think all of them will go over it."

"Let's hope so. And what about squad assignments? I was thinking of putting King solo as a sniper. He has proven himself twice in that role."

"We could replace him on Gamma with Parkerson. The lieutenant is just itching for a shot at the aliens"

"Very well. Just make sure he understands that his first preocupation is to get his men safe. We have to avoid losses as much as we can, otherwise our operationability will be undermined, and I don't want to get into combat undermanned."

January 30th, 1999

Far Side, Moon

The Sectoid Commander had just received orders from High Command considering the latest attacks on his ships by Sol Three's forces. Although they were a nuisance, with missions being postponed because of the loss of craft, casualties were expected. And the message received at the bridge of the huge ship was the programmed response to it.

_André Galvão, 2001_


	5. The Cold Weather Front

X-Com – The Unknown Menace 

Chapter Four – The Cold Weather Front

February 2nd, 1999

Rocky Mountains, Colorado, US

Another UFO had been forced to land by the second interceptor F-22. After the initial detection by NORAD, Captain Tyrell had scrambled and managed to get a couple of solid hits into the craft, using Phoenix and Amraam missiles, until it had been forcesd to land in the middle of the Oregon wood florest. Again, satellite reconnaissance was down, although Johnson had good maps on the location, and the Washington National Guard, who had established a one-mile perimeter around the UFO to prevent any aliens from escaping, was cordoning off the area. But what worried more Johnson was the craft itself. Instead of being the classic flying saucer or the smaller Apollo type capsule, the type of this UFO had never been encountered before. According to gun-camera photos taken by the F-22, this one had the shape of a Celtic cross and was larger. Which probably mean for a larger crew. God, how many men will die this time, Johnson wandered. While their two previous missions had been a success, with all the aliens killed and the UFOs retrieved, so far casualties had been very high. The best armour available to Earth's forces was like paper tissue to the alien's weapons. 

He looked around his seat in the Skyranger. All of the team was wearing standard issue forest uniforms, although it wasn't really known if the aliens saw in the same wavelength as humans, which could make the camouflage useless. His men were apprensive but by now most of them could be called seasoned after having survived two missions against the aliens. The team was arranged into the usual four squads, with himself and King filling up the last remaining slots. Hunt had been left back at the base. The high rate of casualties had forced the team to leave one of its senior members safe, so that in the even of a bad mission the North American team wouldn't become leaderless. 

The raid up north to the crash site at Washington State, near Mount Shasta would take them one hour more. Until that time Johnson tried to relax and rest a bit. They would need all their energies in the incoming fight.

Cheyenne Mountain, Colorado, US

"Where did that came from?" General Bigelow asked the officer in charge of the Air Defence board. 

"Sir, it probably dropped from space in the Pacific and now it must be heading towards some target near the Mexican border. See its speed? They usually start to desaccelerate near their area of operations, so if we ready an F-22 out of Dreamland, it should get it still in California, before it crosses the international border."

"Very well. Alert Area 51"

Near Catalina Island, Pacific Ocean

A recreational sailing boat was on its way to the archipelago of islands situated in the Los Angeles bay, hoping to get to the port before sunset and the weather front that was about to hit Southern California soon arrived. Suddenly a noise started to be heard by the crew, coming from the west. They looked at that direction but they never managed to see the UFO, only the condensation trail it left on the air. Moving at Mach 5 speed, the craft continued on its intended path to its target.

Cheyenne Mountain, Colorado, US

"General? We might have a situation here!"The voice of the controller was apprehensive.

"What is happening?"

"Well the UFO simply disappeared off radar coverage over the Los Angeles metropolitan area."

"It didn't reduce its speed?"

"No, and we have just compared the radar tracks of it with the other ones we have recorded. This fast mover is bigger than anything we ever saw"

"Oh my God!" Bigelow reached for the direct line to the Joint Chiefs of Staff. 

White House, Washington D.C., US

President Winston was sleeping when the phone on the side table next to his table started ringing. His wife turned to the other side and tried to fall into sleep again. After the third ring he picked it up and answered. He listened to two minutes, and then gave some orders before rushing out of bed.

Skyranger 1, over Washington State, US

Johnson was going through the last minutes instructions and checklist when his radio cracked alive.

"Colonel Johnson, please acknowledge, over"

"This is Johnson. Who is speaking?"

"Just a moment sir. Patching you through to the President"

The President? What was going on? After some sounds in the channel a voice came on. 

"Colonel Johnson, this is President Winston. I'm afraid we're having a big problem right now that will require X-Com's assistance."

"What is it, sir?"

"We picked up an UFO that rushed to the Los Angeles area, stayed there for some 15 minutes and afterwards immediately took off again to outer space. We immediately alerted the local authorities. Then, after some minutes, the Los Angeles Police Department started to report some serious gunfight then in downtown LA."

"The aliens?"

"Yes, from what we are receiving they are attacking and killing all people in the area, policemen or not. They have to be stopped Colonel. I've put into federal service the California National Guard and ordered it to try to contain the aliens to the area. We will also try to keep the media out of this, although some television reports of the massacre are starting to came out"

"Very well sir. My team will proceed to LA at once"

"Thank you Colonel and good luck. All forces available at the location are at your disposal. Just stop the aliens. Out"

The radio came dead and he called the pilot.

"Harris, turn this thing towards the direction of LA and get us there as fast as possible. Also call Area 51 and have them connect to me with General Smith and Captain Hunt"

"Yes sir"

After two minutes the radio become alive again. 

"Hunt here Colonel. The General is also listening"

"Gentlemen, we are facing a serious situation. The aliens have launched an attack against downtown LA. I'm turning the Skyranger around to respond to it, but I will need reinforcements. General, I need to borrow your fastest plane so that the members of the team left at the base can link with us at LA".

"Colonel, are you nuts? Except for Captain Hunt the other two team members are all rookies. They will be bait for the aliens and you remember the discussions we had about you deploying your full force"

"General I won't discuss this any further. Right now it seems that LA is a war zone and I will need any available asset at my disposal. If you don't like my orders complain to the President"

"Colonel, you will get your plane and your men, but I can assure you that we are going to have a long talk when you get back. Smith out."

"Hunt, load up the troops with the heaviest equipment they can carry. Also bring some of those flares we had decided to use and some spare ammo. We don't know what we will need to take them this time"

"On the double. Hunt out"

Los Angeles, California, US

After a mad rush down the Pacific coast the Skyranger landed on a driveway in the middle of a suburban neighbourhood in the middle of the night. The landing had been rough, because of the rain clouds that had just hit Los Angeles and were dropping their water load over the city. Johnson had decided to find out first what they were dealing with and coordinate his efforts with the local authorities. When they left the craft fully armed they were met by the Chief of the Los Angeles Police Department and the Major in charge of the National Guard unit that had been deployed to the scene. Since X-Com was a covert operation they couldn't identify themselves as such, but they had a number of options to choose. Johnson moved forward. 

"I'm Colonel Field of the Federal Anti-Terrorist Task Force."

"Glad you arrived. We just didn't knew what else to do" The Chief looked exhausted.

"What is the situation?"

"Well, the terrorists have been confined to the area in front of us. My men are trying to patrol the roads surrounding them, but it's a dangerous duty since they have to get cover to avoid being killed the whole time. Colonel, what are those things? I've been hearing some strange reports from my troops"

Johnson knew this was coming. "Gentlemen, I can only tell you that this will have to remain as a secret for matters of national security. We are taking over the situation now, so just fall back your men to safe positions and avoid confrontation. If we require your assistence I will ask for it, meanwhile, please stay out of the way"

"We are already doing that Colonel. The gunfire you are hearing is not from them"

"What is going on then?"

The Major looked at the Chief, who answered the question:

"Have you ever heard of South Central, LA, Colonel? Well, I couldn't ever think of any reason why a terrorist would attack such a neighbourhood, but that's what they are doing. They just stepped into the territory of some of the nastier gangs that exist in the whole freakin' country. And the boys sure don't like strangers into their territory."

White House, Washington D.C., US

CNN was one of the first networks to report from LA. Winston and his staff were listening to the live coverage. A female reporter was nearby the scene, talking to the camera.

"So far authorities have called it a terrorist attack. The media and everyone else is being forbidden to enter the area and all survivors are being transported to hospitals as quickly as they reach a military control checkpoint, with the police keeping the reporters away from them. But some telephone calls have been received from inhabitants of the area claiming that monsters from outer space are killing everyone. This information has not been yet confirmed by other sources. And, meanwhile, an unknown plane has landed nearby the area, in a sealed off road. Polices sources say that federal forces are taking over the matter, but have refused to provide more information…"

"Let's wish them luck gentlemen," Winston whispered with a sigh. 

South Central, LA, California, US

Hunt and the two rookies had been divided into the other squads, reinforcing them. As the team approached the National Guard checkpoint in the middle of the road, they could see a blown up military truck that was being used as a barricade, in the middle of a large avenue. Other wrecked and abandoned cars littered the asphalt, completely blocking the way of any vehicles in or out of the perimeter. As he reached the trooper's line Johnson asked:

"I'm Colonel Field. Who is in charge here?"

A Captain approached them, navigating through the makeshift barricade and careful to keep his head down. 

"That would be me sir, Captain Novalis of the California National Guard"

"What's the situation?"

"Well, we have them contained, more or less. Sometimes one of the gang members comes running down the avenue, even shooting at us but we take him down with no problem. The trouble starts when the things appear. They have ray guns or whatever they are, that blow everything in their path"

"Are you talking about 5 or 4 feet tall men?"

"I wouldn't call them exactly "men" sir. But no, those ones are easy to take down if we can spot them on time and concentrate our firepower on them while taking cover. The problem is the machines"

"What machines are you talking about?"

The Captain suddenly become alarmed and looked to the direction of the shootings, his face in terror. "Those ones!"

A sound could be heard from the north, the direction to where the avenue led. As Johnson turned to his right to see what the Captain was talking about, he blinked make sure his eyes weren't playing tricks on him. 

A low dome had appeared and was slowly coming towards them. He first thought it was some sort of tank, but then as he looked better he saw that it was disk shaped and floated in the air. It looked as if it was an UFO in miniature. Completely polished and smooth, with only a red band on the middle of it. 

"Take cover" The Captain called. 

The North American team needed no further encouragement. One second afterwards, the machine started to spit balls of green fire that punched big holes in the houses and blew up the cars jammed in front of them. 

"Squads, everyone fire at the thing!" Johnson ordered.

"It's useless" The Major replied. "The bullets from our rifles and machine guns have no effect on them"

"Let's try something different then. All men equipped with Cannons switch to HE rounds and fire at the thing!"

After two seconds, on which the cartridges on the weapons were exchanged, a stream of high explosive fire started to come out of the human line. The rounds made big holes in the street and its surroundings. When the first one hit the disk it looked as if it hadn't affected it. The machine kept on firing back, dispersing his firepower towards the different attackers. Then, after some more rounds had hit it, it begun to move backwards.

"It must be damaged. Everyone keep on firing at the thing!"

The remaining members of the team and the National Guardsmen added their weapons firepower. The disk kept on replying, when suddenly, after being hit by an auto cannon round, it stopped spinning. It then dropped like a rock to the asphalt and, after a second, blew into pieces, the noise deafening all humans. 

"Jesus Christ! What was that?" Someone asked.

"I don't know, but I hope it was the last one. Sergeant Hopkins, get Big Momma ready. I think we might have some use for her". Although the name of the heavy weapon made it technically a he, everyone on the team had by now adopted the name given by the  Sarge. His M72 LAW anti-tank weapon had been replaced by a more advanced M3 Carl Gustav launcher. Unlike the LAW, which was a one shot only weapon, the M3 could be reloaded. "Captain, get on the radio and call for some heavy firepower to be brought down here. All squads move out! Let's get this thing over with".

After clearing the barricade, the team advanced down the avenue carefully on its sides, looking out for possible snipers. After walking one block down they reached an intersection with another major street. Johnson activated the team's radio circuit and talked into his mike.

"Gamma, take the East road. Alpha, the West. Beta take point. Delta and I will follow Beta. If something serious shows up, call for backup. Try to protect any civilians but if they refuse to follow your instructions and fire at you use all necessary force to protect yourselves. King, get yourself to some high place and start reporting what you see." After hearing the instructions the team quickly split into squads and began patrolling their assigned areas. 

Captain Hunt and the rest of Alpha team had been moving for some five minutes until they reached an area of low buildings which looked deserted, with only dark coming out of the shop's windows. He made the team stop and checked the situation. Apparently there was no activity so he had the squad moving again, only to make them stop after some seconds when they started smelling a strange scent on the air.

"Captain" Trooper Dennis called "There's a dropped bug up in the front. I'm going to check him". The sectoid was lying against a phone booth on the right side of the street, bleeding profusely of bullet wounds all over his body. The rain was washing, a green trail coming off the alien and travelling over the sidewalk, and moving towards a drain. A gun was lying next to him, the ozone smell still patent, mixing with the foul stench of the alien's inside. "Looks like we might have some help dealing with these creeps"

"Dennis, take cover! We have some movement up front!" Hunt heard the warning from one of his men and rushed to one of the shops on the left side of the street. When he reached it he kicked the door open and checked for possible hostiles while dropping to his knees and turning to face the approachers. All over the street the men of Alpha were imitating him at the same moment, taking positions in both sides. 

"Kowalski here. Humans approaching. I repeat, humans, not aliens"

"Everyone hold your fire but stay alert" Who were these people up ahead, Hunt thought. 

A group of men slowly appeared under the rain. They were all carrying firearms. Hunt did a quick survey and recognized AK-47 assault rifles, Uzi submachine guns, M-16s and a lot of other rifles and automatic weapons. He knew them all from his training. After the large group approached X-Com's position a bit more, one of them in the center, that was carrying an MP-5 submachine gun, made them all stop and then shouted:

"You know where you are, motherfuckers?" 

Hunt replied: "Federal agents! Drop your weapons and leave this location now!"

Their leader, who was only using a tank top, in spite of the rain, and had his arms covered with tattoos. He probably was on the edge of overdosing from whatever drug , Hunt thought, because his eyes and face looked as if possessed by some unnatural strength. He took a step forward and answered: "Kiss my ass, motherfucker! This is our territory! You get in here, you gotta pay. You got something to pay pig? See this is not a place for toy Army soldiers to be at! Ask the little asshole over there. He now knows not to screw with us!"

"You are in danger! Leave this place at once!"

"Did you get me wrong you fucker?"

A new voice interrupted over the radio circuit. "Captain, King here. I'm at the top of the 7th floor parking building in your two o'clock position. I can see some alien movement towards your direction"

Shit, Hunt thought. Not only I have to deal with these idiots but also the bad guys are coming. He turned to warn the gang members "Listen to me! Terrorists are approaching this location. Get outta here now!"

"Say what motherfucker? You think you can give us orders? Why don't you try a taste of this?" He turned the MP-5 into Hunt's direction but never fired. The blast from the alien weapon coming from behind that hit his back answered him, while his face contortioned with pain. He was dead before he crashed into the street. The rest of the gang quickly started firing back in all directions, including X-Com's. The squad hold back their fire and just took cover. More bolts cut some more gang members down, but they just kept firing, the drugs in their metabolisms making them ignore any fear.

Then something unexpected attempted. Hunt watched as one of the gang bangers froze for one second, standing motionless, his eyes staring at a void. He then turned and started firing at his companions. He took down many of them until the remaining ones noticied him and shot back, managing to kill him. The green fire also added to the carnage, cutting down further the members of the gang. "Alpha, move out! Let's try to find them while they deal with the gangsters".

"Captain, this is Johnson. Hold our positions. I'm sending Delta to hit the aliens from the flank. Prepare to move when they hit".

All of the squad waited in impatience while the rest of the gang still kept trying to fight the aliens. Hunt looked. Not only most of them didn't bothered to take cover, but they also were unable to concentrate fire on the locations of the aliens. By now he could see that there were some four aliens, two on each side of the street. He couldn't guess where the ones on his side were, but they must be some five buildings away, he calculated, looking at their fire. More green bolts came, one of them going through the remains of the expositor and melting some of the remaining glass. He ducked back into the wall and tuned into Delta's radio frequency. 

"Delta, this is Hunt"

"Garcia here, we are approaching your position"

"There are some four aliens, two on each side of the street. Not many gang members left. The ones in your side are in the first floor of a warehouse, shooting through the windows. Take them. Me and Kowalski will try to keep them occupied."

"Roger"

Hunt moved closer to the window and raised his M4A1 to his shoulder, aiming for the windows of the warehouse. 

"Dennis, you and Evans try to find out where the other two aliens are located. Keep your heads low"

Hunt then selected full auto fire mode into his weapon and started shooting. After a second Kowalski joined him. They both fired several bursts until the aliens started to change their fire from the remaining gang members to them. A green ball of fire hit the wall right next to Hunt's position and he felt a jolt of heat on his face.

"Delta, where are you?"

Garcia and the other members of Delta where approaching the department store from its rear section. After locating a fire exit, a kick on the door opened it wide open, the squad members pointing their heavy weapons at the entrance. The noise of the kick was muffled by the explosions and gunfire coming from the parallel street where the confrontation was occurring. They proceeded into the store carefully, checking all corners. 

After securing the ground floor, the squad found a set of lifts and a stair. 

"Lee, cover the lifts. Anything comes down them you take it down". The new addition to the squad positioned himself. "The rest of us, let's get upstairs to give a hand to Alpha"

"How about if we give ourselves a diversion?" Andrews asked. He went to the lifts and pressed the button to the first floor on one of them. Garcia understood his intentions. By the time the automatic doors were closing, they were already running up the stairs, their cannons ready.

Hunt had to get into cover again. The two aliens were concentrating their fire on him and Kowalski. The other trooper had been already had a scratch wound on its shoulder. He was cursing when suddenly the alien gunfire coming from the store ceased, followed by explosions that could have only come from Delta's cannons. 

When Garcia and the other troopers from Delta got to the first floor, the aliens were starting to respond to the movement of the elevator. He saw them moving away from the shattered glass windows and taking cover behind some clothes stand, their weapons trained to the doors of the lift that were opening. Garcia's first shot from his heavy cannon missed the stand and went through the window, exploding to the other side of the street. He corrected his aim and shot at the counter where the aliens were hiding. The explosive round hit the plastic furniture straight on its center and exploded it. Both aliens were thrown backwards without having a chance to react. One of them still managed to get up but a series of AP rounds from Andrews auto cannon brought him down before it even had a change to discharge its rifle. 

Hunt's radio cracked: "Garcia here. Two hostiles down in the store." 

"Very well, but just don't sit on your butts. There's still another two on the other side of the street"

Hunt looked over the street. All the gang members had been killed or injured. His troopers on the other side were taking cover.

"Dennis, Evans. Have you located them?"

"One of them seems to be in a convenience store fifty yards away from your position. The other one has stopped firing"

"Captain. Garcia here. We have located both buggers. One of them must have been hit by our fire. The other has taken cover on the store. I don't think we can hit it"

"Kowalski, get a grenade ready. On my mark we dash in and take it out of its cover. The rest of you give us cover. If the ET pokes its head out take him"

"Roger"

"Three, two, one. Go!"

Both soldiers got up of their concealed positions and started running down the street, on the direction of the convenience store where the alien was hidden. When they were reaching the entrance gunfire suddenly started coming on their direction and they had to take cover on another store.

"What the fuck?! Who is firing? Delta, hold your fire dammit!"

"Garcia here. None of us in the first floor have fired, but Lee is not responding to my calls."

"Get someone down there to see what is happening and to make him quit firing!" Hunt screamed. "Lee what's your status?!" Hunt kept on barking queries on the radio until an human scream was heard on the channel. He froze for a second, then his training kicked in.

"What is happening there?"

"Andrews here. Garcia took three bullets and he's down, still alive because the Kevlar vest stopped the bullets, but he's going to need some medical attention. Lee shot him when we were coming down. He didn't respond to our demands to put down his weapon so we took him down"

"Did he go nuts? What happened with him?" Hunt then got his answer. He felt a presence on his mind, a foreign consciousness that started to creep him, giving him a cold shiver down his spine. As he was trying to make any sense of it he felt it trying to command his body. He fought the presence, but it kept getting stronger.

"Aarrrrgghhhhhhhhh!" Kowalski looked at him dazzled by what was happening. Hunt could see its arm beginning to move by its own. He then realized who was inside his mind, trying to control his body. Making a over human effort he tried to speak: "Kowalski. Kill. Alien. Now!" The trooper looked at him for a second and pulled the pin off the grenade he was holding. He jumped out of the broken window, approached the door in the next building with caution and threw the grenade into the convenience store. Hunt immediately felt the presence go away. The grenade bounced for some seconds then went off with a bang. Hunt didn't pay attention. He started to feel back his body, to be in touch with the outside world. Then a voice interrupted him.

"Captain, are you all right?" Kowalski was looking at him, his rifle pointing on his direction. 

"Yes Kowalsky, I think that now I am, thank you"

"Sir, then could you please then put the pin back into the grenade you are holding?" Hunt looked at his hands. He hadn't noticed that the force that had taken over him had made him pull the pin. Fortunately, the alien had been killed before it had forced Hunt to drop the explosive. 

"Yes Kowalski." He disarmed the grenade and then he remembered: "The alien?"

"Blown into pieces sir"

"Very well" He turned into his mike. "Delta and Alpha, let's regroup. Andrews, how is Garcia?"

"I have stopped the bleeding but he needs evacuation right now"

"Can he walk?"

"Yes, he's conscious and swearing as hell. I think I would prefer if he stayed out"

"And Lee?"

"Dead. We had to take him down, since he refused to lay down his weapon and surrender"

"Ok, Andrews, bring Garcia down. Kowalski, you and Garcia head back into the police perimeter to get some medical attention. All the others let's check the gang members to see if there's any survivors". 

Kowalski turned to Hunt, still unsure of that his superior was completely recovered from the ordeal: "Captain, what in Earth happened to you, Lee and the gang member that we saw cutting down his comrades?"

"I think the aliens might possess some form of mind control, Kowalski. We need to alert the other squads". He keyed his mike. "Colonel are you there? Over"

While Alpha and Delta where fighting the gang and the group of aliens, Gunny Hopkins was considering the options for his squad. King had given a warning on the radio that he had spotted two of the alien's flying disks approaching Beta's position. He quickly gave orders to the remaining members of the squad to set an ambush on the enemy forces that where approaching. 

Beta squad was in an area of low-income houses, in a typical street of the area, with wire fences separating the houses, broken phone booths and walls full of graffiti. Some lights could be seen in the inside of the houses, but overall the place looked deserted and trashed. A lot of vacant parking space told Hopkins that the majority of the people who lived on the street had probably been able to flee the area when the fighting begun. Others weren't so lucky and their bodies still laid on the sidewalk, hit from behind by the alien's weapons as they tried to escape. The stench of burned human flesh was terrible and some abandoned dogs were already feeding themselves on the bodies. Hopkins wanted to drive them away, the repulsion getting to him,  but the aliens were just too close. From the indications King had given him, the logical route for the alien machine to enter this urbanized area would be through a side street that connected it to a major avenue on the left. He had set himself and another member of Beta on a front yard where the bushes that made the fence would give them some cover. The other two members of Beta had dashed along the street to set themselves on the other end, with the side street between both teams. When the disk entered the street they would get its attention by shooting at it, at King's signal. Then he would bring Big Momma into action and those damn aliens would see how harsh she spoke when angry.

"Talk to me Jones, what to do you see?"

"Colonel, the gas station looks as good as dead. I can't see any movement"

Johnson had sent Delta to support Alpha some five minutes ago. For now he had no reserve firepower available and while the gas station in front of him looked deserted, he had a creepy feeling going inside him that told him that something might be hidden in there. The aliens must have hit some power lines in this area, because the streetlights were completely out, he thought. And their superior night vision would only give them an advantage that Johnson disliked very much. In front of them, the street they had been walking on for some time ended in a T crossroad some 90 yards away, with a gas station on the top left side of the T. The area again showed signs of urban decay and behind the station he could see what looked like abandoned warehouses. Some cars were still burning on the street, in spite of the rain that now had turned into a small shower, and that was the only light available. He was reluctant to sent a scout ahead because he knew how good the aliens were at picking up the point men. Or worse, they could wait for all of Beta's squad to be out in the open and drop them without any effort or warning to his squad. He was considering if he should call Gamma and Hopkins' Big Momma to give them some real fire support.

"Colonel, I've just picked alien movement at 2 o'clock" King's voice was almost imperceptible. Johnson became tense. They could be heading into a major confrontation and he knew that he was lacking firepower to deal with the situation.

"How many and what's their direction?"

"Two disks. I've lost them now, but they were heading towards Gamma position"

"Warn Hopkins to get ready"

"Yes sir"

"Colonel?" Johnson recognized Rodriguez's accent to the squad's radio channel

"Yes Rodriguez?"

"Sir, me and Jones just had an idea to see what's hiding over there"

"Tell me about it"

"Well, I could get into one of the cars on the street, start it running and sent it over on that direction. The aliens would sure react to it if some one of them is hiding over there"

"And where would you get the keys?"

"No need for that sir"

"Very well, you and Jones start working on that. Me and Parkerson will give you cover."

Both troopers approached a 1970's Cadillac that was parked on the right side of the street. Rodriguez tried the passenger's door and, after seeing it was locked, used the butt of his M4A1 to smash the glass. He then unlocked the door and rushed inside the vehicle, while Jones waited outside, using the door as cover. After some seconds where Johnson couldn't what was happening inside, he began to hear Rodriguez starting up the engine. Johnson worried that the noise would alert the aliens, but no reaction came from the gas station. Rodriguez exited the car and both troopers began to push it to the middle of the street, pointed towards the station. The Hispanic trooper then ripped a long piece of cloth from his uniform and used it to secure the driving wheel, while Jones brought a big rock that was standing in a lawn.

"All ready sir and I've rigged the car with a grenade. When it hits something, the thing will go boom and hopefully take some of them with it"

"Do it then Rodriguez"

"Roger that". He engaged the gear and put the rock on the accelerator pedal while he and Jones begun to move alongside the car, using the open door to give them some cover. Johnson and Parkerson waited with their weapons ready. As the Cadillac was halfway a green light suddenly erupted from one of the windows in the gas station heading towards the car. It hit the vehicle on the front, close to the driver's door, but didn't alter his course or speed. 

"Get out of there both of you! Take cover!" Johnson screamed as he and Parkerson begun pouring automatic fire from their weapons. The bullets flew the distance between their position and the alien's and started pocketing the walls and inside of the store with holes. More hellish green fire began to come out of the area, now from other places in the station.

"King here. I've just took down one of them that was on the roof hidden and that started to move when he saw the car. There must be two or three more inside the station". Johnston barely paid him any attention as he was trying to direct his fire in response to the alien's. Another green bolt hit the car on the windscreen and another in the driver's door, now ripping it out of the car. The Cadillac's trajectory begun to change after some seconds it hit a immobile minivan that was near the station and had been burning since they arrived at the scene. The grenade went off some moments later, completely ripping the inside of the car. Johnson was about to start giving orders when he sensed Parkerson on his side suddenly get up and start firing in every direction. He looked at the lieutenant. The man had a livid expression on his face as if he was panicking. "Parkerson, hold your fire dammit! You will hit Jones and Rodriguez if you continue like that!"

The lieutenant simply ignored him and Johnson threw himself on his figure, knocking him down and making him drop his weapon. "What's the matter with you?" We wondered what could have made Parkerson panicking like that, especially since the man had combat experience and never had shown an inclination of losing his control.

"Are you better now?"

"Y….yes s…sir"

"Good. Get your weapon and give me a hand here then!" Johnson then turned into the station's direction and was looked at the situation. The aliens were pretty much trapped into the building, unless it had a back door. He needed to get his men close and use some grenades to dislodge the aliens. He almost disregarded the click of a pistol being armed right next to him. As he turned to look back into the Lieutenant he only saw the barrel of the junior officer's M9 pistol pointed directly at him. 

Hopkins only had to wait for some tense seconds until the first alien disk appeared coming off the side street as he had expected it to. The second disk was nowhere to be seen and he decided to wait. "Everyone hold your fire and stay put!" The disk had stopped in the middle of the street and Hopkins could imagine it to be assessing the situation. After some tense seconds it started to move again, this time in his direction. "Shit!" He thought. In a few more seconds it would get too close to him and Taylor, who were hidden behind a passenger car. He only had one option.

He clicked his squad's channel. "Deck, Miller, get his attention". Both troopers started firing at the disk from their concealed positions at the Sarge's order. When the first bullets hit the machine it stopped moving, as if it was assessing the threat. Hopkins could see it through the aiming sight of Big Momma, simply ignoring Beta's automatic fire as if it had no effect on it. He trained the weapon into it and checked the range: 60 yards. A bit too close for what he would have liked, but still inside the minimum safety range. He pressed the trigger while shouting to Taylor to duck. 

The 84-milimeter rocket ignited and flew out of the M3 launcher taking less than a second to hit the disk. When the shaped charged warhead it the alien machine it moulded itself for a millisecond on its surface before igniting. The explosion whooshed over the area and for one second the disk looked as if it was still operating, before it suddenly dropped off the air and hit the asphalt making a clank sound. Hopkins raised his head to see it better. It looked the rocket had penetrated the inside of the disk and wrecked it. But what about the second one?

Johnson thought that he was going to die when suddenly Parkerson's head exploded as a 7.62 caliber bullet crossed his skull from one ear to another, with blood and pieces of his brain coming out the exit wound. The lieutenant's body dropped to the ground, lifeless. Johnson was speechless for one second, the shock of seeing the pistol's barrel so close paralysing him. Until a voice on his radio brought him back to reality. 

"Colonel, are you all right? What happened?"

"King, did you dropped the lieutenant?"

"Yes sir. I had noticed him when he went into bezerk and started firing everywhere. When you decked him I kept paying attention and as I saw him taking his pistol out of the holster and starting to point it at you I took him down as fast as I could"

"Thank you King. I don't know what happened to him, but you saved my life". A new voice came into the channel: "Rodriguez here! Jones just dropped his weapon and started running away!"

"What the fuck is going on?" Johnson swore, feeling that the situation was getting out of his control. A blast nearby his position told him what he needed to do, to get his priorities straight. First the damned aliens on the gas station. Then they would discover about the rest. He looked at the place. There were still aliens inside, and while they must be trapped he also now couldn't just storm the place because half of Gamma squad was dead or missing. If Hopkins was here they could just send him a rocket and blew the place apart. But he hadn't communicated since when the disks had been seen approaching his position so he assumed that he could be also in trouble or with his hands too occupied. Then Johnson had an idea. He started ordering his men as he pointed his rifle. 

"King, Rodriguez, start firing on the gas hoses. Make them blew up!" The string of automatic fire from X-Com changed from the inside of the station to the gas meters outside. After a few seconds one of them began spitting gas. A spark from one of the bullets hitting the pavement did the rest. The fire quickly spread in the gasoline that was pouring out of the meters. When the flames hit the underground deposit tank the whole place went up in a massive explosion, with the shockwave throwing cars around and making Rodriguez fall into the ground. While Johnson was wait enough to not be affected by it, he still could feel the heat of the explosion as it expanded across the air, despite the light mist that was still in the area.

"Jesus Christ!" King had left his mike opened. "Anyone cares for some roasted alien for supper?"

"I sincerely hope none of them managed to get out of that inferno alive" Johnson added. "Rodriguez link up with me. Let's try to find Jones or its remains"

The second disk suddenly appeared on the air out of nowhere, near Deck and Miller's  concealed position, and positioned itself over the house where both troopers had taken cover. Hopkins tried to give a warning in the radio but it was too late. He couldn't either use Big Momma since the thing didn't had any rocket loaded into it and the thing was too close to his men. He saw a green fireball coming out of a concealed weapon on his surface and hitting the area behind the fence where both troops were hidden. Gunfire started coming from that position and hitting the disk but it had no effect on it. After a second fireball had left the machine and hit the same area, the firing stopped. Hopkins didn't waste time mourning the loss of his men. He picked up another rocket and reloaded Big Momma.

Meanwhile the second disk was already moving in the air, heading towards their position. Taylor suddenly got up, dropped his weapon and started running in panic towards the door of the house behind them. "Taylor, get back here dammit!" Hopkins barked.

He never made it into the porch. The disk stopped its motion and let loose another ball of green death that hit him in the back. The energy of the beam consumed the Kevlar vest of Taylor and his back, killing him instantly. 

Hopkins looked at the thing, feeling that he was losing his control also. He took a deep breath and his motions went into automatic mode. Looking through the gun sight he checked the range, 35 yards and closing. His fingers released the safety and he gave a last look at the distance: 12 yards, almost inside minimum range. He then pressed the trigger, the blasts of the alien machine rocketing the car and almost making him miss his target.

The rocket barely had time to arm itself before it hit the disk. Hopkins tried to duck, but a world of light, heat and noise took him over and he passed out into the darkness. 

By the time Johnson and Rodriguez had linked up they saw Jones coming out behind a garage building. Johnson ordered him to halt with his weapon trained on him before he arrived.

"What's the matter Colonel? It's me for Christ sake!"

"What happened back there trooper?"

"I don't know sir. I suddenly felt this panic that I couldn't control. Never in my years of service have I felt something like that"

"Are you all right now?"

"Well yes, I think so"

"We will talk about this later at the base then. Get your weapon and help out Garcia going through the remains of the station to see what we can salvage"

"Yessir". As Jones was walking back to his position to retrieve his weapon, Johnson's earphone become alive with a radio transmission.

"Colonel are you there? Over"

"I'm here Hunt. What's going on there?"

"All the aliens here are dead. And a lot of gang bangers also. We also lost Lee and Kowalski and Garcia are injured."

"Three casualties? What happened?"

"Sir, this will sound strange, and I hardly believe it myself, but the aliens seemed to be able to exert mind control on us. Lee just suddenly starting firing at us with no apparent reason. Garcia was luckily his bullet proof vest absorbed most of the energy of the shots but he still got hurt badly and was bitching as hell when I sent him back"

Johnson thought about it for a second and answered back :"After Parkerson tried to kill me here with no apparent reason also I'm a bit more open to that explanation than I would normally be, Hunt. But this will have to be discussed in debriefing, now we still have a job to do".

"Very well, sir. What's your orders?"

"Do a final sweep of the area and then fall back to the perimeter line."

"Yes sir. Colonel, any word from Gamma?"

"No" He chose the squad's frequency on his radio "Hopkins are you there?" The only answer to Johnson's call was silence.

February 3rd, 1999

The White House, Washington D.C., US

It had taken near ten hours of fighting to clear South Central of the aliens. But after X-Com's intervention, the Army had finally be able to deal with the few remaining aliens. A full brigade of the 82nd Airborne Division had been emergently deployed to the area and was now finishing the clean up, together with the LAPD and the National Guard units already deployed to the scene. The X-Com North American team was on its way back to Area 51 and Winston had already given his gratefulness to Colonel Johnson's actions and help, and his regrets for his lost men and women. 

But the problems weren't by any chance near their end. Besides the military and police casualties there were the deaths of civilians. Hundreds, possibly thousands of inhabitants of the area had been killed, the majority of them simply gunned down by the aliens while trying to escape. The others had tried to put up some resistance, but their efforts had been unsuccessful. As he was looking through the television scenes together with its staff, Winston was numb, incapable of showing any reaction. A female reporter, her hair and makeup showing the number of hours that she must have been awaken up, was making a live transmission just outside the containment perimeter.

"So far the number of casualties is growing. We got word that all hospitals in the LA and Orange County area have been warned to receive large numbers of injured. Military authorities in the area are calling it the worst terrorist attack in the United States. But some of the survivors claim that this was an extraterrestrial invasion, no matter how absurd that claim might sound." After a second, the image of the female reporter was replaced by the one of a survivor. He was a man on his middle thirties that was wearing a rag around his head to cover an injury. The blood had ran down the side of this head and had made a large stain on his shirt at his shoulder. He was still in a state of shock and was speaking very fast.

"They just started coming down the street and shooting at everybody! They would go from house to house and kill everyone! And when we tried to run they just kept shooting!"

"Sir who were they?" The reporter's voice asked. 

"Monsters! Extraterrestrials! Like the pictures of the ones who come on National Enquirer! Small with big black eyes! And their UFOs were also there shooting at people!"

Winston decided he had enough and turned the television set off. 

"Sir, I just talked to the Army Commander at the scene" The Chairman of the JCS cut through the silence "He reports all the aliens have been terminated. Cleanup operations are starting right now"

"Casualties?"

"Too early to know for sure. They estimate thousands"

"And things will only get worse from here" The voice of the Adviser for National Security cut in.

"We all know that Candace, but we had no choice"

"In any case sir, we need to take measures to deal with the threat this represents. We need to distract the media from it"

"And who do we do that?"

"We offer them a logical explanation for what people think they saw. Link this to the end of the millennium and how people are getting anxious about it. Blame it to some extreme Arab group. It will be easier for the ordinary people to accept that than to acknowledge that aliens exist and that they are a threat to us. See the mention he made to the tabloid press? Normal folks will look at him thinking that he just got too addicted into conspiracy theories."

"And what when other events like this happen?"

"Sir, you know my opinion on the course of action that the UN decided to undertake. Not only this escalation could get into out of control proportions but we are also endangering our national security, by allowing X-Com to have so much access to our resources."

"I already know your opinion Candace, and quite frankly, I would still make the same choice of signing the X-Com pact today. Our regular forces aren't prepared to deal with such a situation."

"Nothing that couldn't be changed Mr. President"

"This discussion is meaningless. Right now we have a very political and emergency situation to deal with"

Area 51, Nevada, US

Johnson was still extremely tired. He had barely managed to get a few hours of sleep in the time after the arrival of the team at the base. He had been ordered by Commander Illyuschenko to present afterwards a full report on the engagement and he was about to do it right now by videoconference on the reunions room, together with Hunt. The electronic wall of the conference become lit and the half body figure of Illyuschenko appeared. They now all were X-Com uniforms, composed of black pants and jacket. Illyuschenko looked more sombre than ever on that suit. His salt and pepper hair gave him the look of experience and someone who looked at him from behind might have been fooled into thinking he was starting to be off his prime. But his blue Slavic eyes told exactly the opposite, carrying an immense will and power. On neck collar a simple insignia denoted his rank in X-Com. A mixture of a skull and the letter X, it had been personally designed by Illyuschenko and marked him as supreme military commander of the force.

"Colonel, I know this is hard to do right now and I'm sorry for the loss of your men, but your initial report said some disturbing things"

"Yes General, pardon me, Commander. Captain Hunt and me strongly believe that the aliens have powers that allow them to panic our forces and even take mind control of humans. We had to kill two of our men because they suddenly started firing at us. And if they were previous infiltrators they could have done it in more suitable conditions that would probably make their actions undiscovered and blameable to alien action"

"I see."

"Captain Hunt says that he was affected to, but that when the only alien still alive on the scene was killed the interference he felt on his head disappeared. I've talked to Dr. Mantell about it. He will look at the remains of the aliens we brought back to see if there's some biological proof to that"

"But not all the aliens seem to present that ability it would seem them. It was the first time X-Com ever encountered anything like that"

"That is true sir"

"Very well, I shall issue warnings to all the teams. What about your losses?"

Johnson looked at Hunt, who was the responsible for the operations. The Captain sighted and started speaking. 

"We had five men killed in action and three others injured. Gamma team was almost wiped out, with Sergeant Hopkins being the only survivor, although he has suffered burns and blacked out because he discharged his rocket launcher a bit too close. They still managed to kill two of the alien's cybernetic disks. Lieutenant Parkerson and Trooper Lee had to be put down by our own forces." He paused a bit "And two other men got injured, although one of them will be able to come back to active duty in a few days. Overall we only have ten men available right now, and that's including the Colonel and myself. I've started the recruitment procedures to fill up the losses, but it might take a full week before we are operational"

"What will you need from me?"

"Sir, we need better protection for our troops. Otherwise we are just sending cannon fodder on missions"

"I got a report from Dr. Chevereux a couple of days ago. Apparently his team have managed to figure out the composition of the materials that the aliens use. He said that he might be able to develop metallurgical methods to work the alloys into some form of body protection"

"That would be excellent sir. If those metals allow them to travel into space, they might also give us more protection against the weapons they use"

"That reminds me of the second part of his report. They have disassembled some of their weapons and are trying to figure them out, but so far they have no clue of how or where they should start."

"Protection for now will do fine sir. The sectoids and the disks can be killed by Earth weapons." The Colonel added. "But we don't know what surprises they still have so we need to be prepared to deal with them"

"Very well. Captain, now I have an assignment for you. After you are done with that I want you to present yourself to the new North American base. I just got off the phone with the UN Secretary who had before been talking to your President. Mr. Winston expressed him the need to activate the second North American team. And, quite frankly I agree with him, since the installations at the Appalachian Mountains are near complete". 

Johnson was hearing it and didn't like that they hadn't asked for his opinion on that. 

"Sir, if I might ask, who will command that base? I don't think Captain Hunt has enough experience for it, no offence meant there Hunt, even if he's a fine executive officer"

"I agree with that judgement Colonel, that's why your government proposed another officer to be responsible for it. They want it to be as fully operational as possible. The attack on LA scared a lot of people."

"And who is he?"

"Colonel Jackson of the your 101st Air Assault Division". Shit, Johnson thought. While he had heard of Jackson's reputation during the Gulf War when he was still a Captain, he also thought the men's actions were a bit reckless. And on this war they didn't have a military advantage like against the Iraqis. 

"Sir, I don't know if he has the necessary attitude for this type of assignment"

"Colonel, as you know it's up to the national governments to propose military officers for the command of each base. While I can and will refuse the offers, if I strongly object the quality of the men sent to me, there's no reason to get ourselves involved into political arguments with our sponsors"

"But in his case his reputation precedes him, sir, if you're not aware"

"My reputation preceded me when I got picked for this job. I've seen Colonel's Jackson file and he seems to have all the necessary skills."

"Still, I wish to make an objection, sir"

"It will be taken into account. Anything else?"

"Sir, please consider it"

"Let me tell you what I'm considering right now, Colonel. About three days ago the Russian X-Com team successfully recovered its first UFO. You have seen the report. What you don't know is that the team of Colonel Boronin almost got itself into an armed confrontation with the forces of my country that were sent to help out the operation. As he told me, they were adamant in keeping possession of the UFO and tried to move it to another place. He only managed to resolve the situation, by, like you Americans say, making a bluff and telling my nation's forces that the craft was highly unstable and could explode if there weren't taken necessary precaution measures"

"Sir, I didn't knew that"

"I'm telling you this to let both of you know that political interference is already going over the limit of what I would have wished. Every damn country has its own demands and agenda, and some of them conflict ours. Now, although this man is a Cold War hardliner and with no doubt was chosen because of that, he is capable of the mission. If we start bickering about it, pretty soon you will find out that your armed forces may not be as cooperative as they were before"

"I apologize then, sir"

"Don't. It isn't necessary. My job is to deal with this sort of situation. Yours is getting your team ready and to help win this war"

February 4th, 1999

Mother One, Black Florest, Germany

The German government had given to the European X-Com's team complete control over a secret research facility located in the middle of the Black Florest. It had taken more than two months to equip it with the necessary accommodations for the military team, but the scientific elements of the unit where already in place and feverously working on the pieces of equipment retrieved from the initial crash sites in North America. The arrival of Dr. Chevereux had merely galvanized them more, if not for his work methods, which Eva Johannes thought they were almost tyrannical. Still he could listen to arguments and agree on them. 

She had been invited to be a part of the team right after the Geneva summit, which she had immediately accepted. She didn't have yet much research experience because she had only finished her doctorate a couple of years ago in Particle Physics on the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Still, she had been the number one student at her class in University and had finished her doctorate with one of the highest grades. They probably had picked her up also because she was young and open to new ideas. Which she desperately needed at the moment, because the alien technology didn't make any sense to human science. 

The general consensus in the team about the role of the metal cylinders found on the UFOs was that they should be the propulsion system. But after disassembling one of them they discovered that there weren't any mechanical devices like the ones found on engines on Earth. Which mean that the energy generated by them should be some sort of anti-gravity system. They even had a clue about what was the source of the power: the golden crystals found in one of the sections of the engine. They had been also found inside what seemed to be the ammunition containers for each alien weapon. Still, they were waiting for the results of the examples sent to several research physics and chemistry labs all over the world to determine what were the crystals made of. 

And that's what all the team was now doing. Dr. Chevereux had just received the results and had call of them for a presentation in one of the base's laboratories.  

"Ladies and gentlemen, it seems that the golden material has been identified by our colleagues at the Los Alamos Research Lab in America and CERN at Switzerland. They were most anxious to know where it had came from but I managed to convince them it had been found in a natural status, which as you will see might be a bit unreal but its better than the real explanation" He paused. "As we had suspected but didn't have here the necessary equipment to prove it, it is a super heavy element, not found naturally on Earth and, to be even more strange, it is in a pure form, with no other elements."

"That is impossible!" Someone cried out

"If you recall it, the theory predicts that after a certain point in the periodic table these elements become stable and not decay immediately into lighter elements"

"Yes, but so far we have only managed to make a few atoms of those in lab conditions and it is months of work. It would have to be something completely heavier than we know right now"

"Actually no. The element present here is Ununpentium, that occupies the 115th position on the periodic table of elements."

"But scientists have already fabricated atoms of it and it quickly decays into lighter elements" The scientist argued.

"Yes, true. But in this case the atomic mass, or the number of neutrons it possesses, is different from the one that we artificially manufactured at a lab on Earth. And it has some chemical qualities that make it akin to carbon, which explains its ability to form perfect crystals."

"Do they have any indication on how it does release energy to move the craft or to fire weapons?" Eva asked. 

"None. That's for you to discover. Somewhere on ununpentium lays the key to the human race survival and the conquest of the stars"

February 5th, 1999

London, United Kingdom

Number Two looked at the Thames River from the window at his office for a brief moment then considered his plan. While the X-Com's operation against the alien terrorist raid had seemed to please the faction that was against the force because of the heavy casualties it had suffered he saw things different. They had only proven to him again the validity of his plan, although they were too blind to see. If the problems with the quality of X-Com's equipment not matching up with the aliens could be resolved, or at least a bit minimized, the team could stand up better against the aliens and not suffer so much attrition.

But it would have to be done in such a way that could never be discovered by the Group. If they knew of X-Com receiving foreign assistance all eyes would be turned on him and he would be discovered immediately and killed.

February 10th, 1999

Area 51, Nevada, US

While waiting for Williams to disembark the jet plane that had brought him from Washington at his request, Johnson thought if the intelligence officer could be trusted. Although he still disliked the man's presence and his functions he tried to refrain from showing them and not letting them disturb his best judgement. He felt the man could be trusted, even if he might kept things a secret from Johnson as he pleased. Williams unbounded the craft and joined Johnson on the tarmac.

"Good to see you Colonel" He extended his right hand. 

"Welcome back to Area 51 Mr. Williams" Johnson took it, still unsure of his decision to inform Williams of what had happened the day before. "This way please and let's get this done with". 

Five minutes later they were into one of the underground cargo stores of the base. Johnson being careful to check if anyone was following their path. They were joined by Dr. Mantell a couple of minutes later. Williams was puzzled about the place for the meeting for a second but then he realized that something important had come up and Johnson wanted to make sure no one was listening. 

"Mr. Williams, yesterday Dr. Mantell was approached by a stranger as he took a trip to the town of Nellis"

"Didn't he had a security escort?!"

"Yes he had, but he never actually saw the stranger, only took knowledge of his messages"

"What do you mean?"

"If I might," Mantell started "When me and the two escorts went to have lunch at a restaurant I noticed something written on my menu that intrigued me. It said, written in almost imperceptible letters, with every phrase written between items on the menu: "Package under your seat with valuable data. Don't tell anyone of how you got it. If you want to stay safe."

"What did you do?"

"I ignored it, thinking it was some sort of prank. We ordered and the food came, with nothing extraordinary happening. But when I got to see the bottom of the plate, after eating it off the food, there was another writing on it. It said: "It is not a joke!" When I saw that I dropped my arm and pretended to pick up something off the floor. But I instead reached underneath my chair. There was a package there"

"Jesus Christ, and you have no idea of who gave it to you?"

"No, I doubt the waitress had anything to do with it"

"What did you do?"

"I pulled it off and dropped it into a bag full of things I had been shopping in the town. I only opened it when I later reached my quarters"

"What did it contained?"

"A set of papers relating to laser technology"

"That's nothing extraordinary, we can make lasers for decades"

"Not this type of laser. If the theoretical assumptions are correct on the documents I received, we can make a laser powerful enough to be discharged in Earth's atmosphere and carry its destructive energy for miles"

"That was the one concept of Star Wars. The Russians have already managed to do that"

"But by having to use major installations and an immense use of electrical power. What this papers point out is solutions on how to built a laser that could be portable"

"That is unbelievable" Williams's mind was getting into full gear with what he was listening. 

"Like I said, we are still checking the theory"

"We?"

"My scientific staff"

"They know about it already?"

"Only the technical aspects of it. I presented them with the basic theory and nothing else. Told them I had another one of my mad ideas. Some were thrilled; the majority thought it was the more usual wild goose chase. They are actually recreating all the work being done for those papers, but without knowing. It is a bit like to be teaching. When they are in doubt or error, you make then think again without telling the answer. They usually find the mistake in their logic and correct it"

"I still think that you should have waited. Who is this mysterious friend that suddenly has appeared? For whom does he or she work for?"

"Mr Williams", Johnson interrupted, "Dr. Mantell consulted with me first and I agreed with his suggestions. So far only the three of us know about this, plus Commander Illyuschenko. And if this works my troopers will be better equipped to deal with the aliens. Besides, if someone is helping us, why should we question it? I have better things to do than to play spy games, like winning a war for instance!" He was starting to feel a bit angry. 

"Colonel, I too wish to win this war, but there's more here than appears to the eye, even for us spies. We might one day be at the brink of winning the war military only to discover later that they have won it in a scale what we didn't imagine. Why would someone in Earth possess such important information and it had never come out to public before?" And then it hit Williams straight on the head. Because someone had a deep interest in keeping Earth away from that technology the same way I tried to conceal the alien's operations for decades! Which meant that they had established contact with human society before and probably both sides still are interacting. But why releasing such information now?

"Mr. Williams are you all right?"

"I just came up with a most disturbing thought gentlemen. Unfortunately I can't share it with you for now. Like you said, you have better things to do than to play spy games. Those are for me."

_André Galvão, 2001_


	6. Small Cat, Bug Mice

X-Com – The Unknown Menace

Chapter Five – Small Cat, Bug Mice

February 12th, 1999

New York City, US

The redaction room of the New York Times was almost deserted at two o'clock in the morning, but Evan Blake didn't care too much about company or how late it was. He had been assigned to cover the terrorist attack on Los Angeles the week before, but so far he had come up with almost a complete blank relating to the subject. The whole area was still being cordoned off by the military, on the basis of the possible existence of chemical weapons being left over by the terrorists. While the justification seemed to please most people around, Blake wasn't fully satisfied by it. He had flow the day after the attack to the city and talked to inhabitants of the area who had given him terrifying stories about extraterrestrials and their war machines, in a way that reminded Blake of the descriptions made by H.G. Wells on his novel War of the Worlds. While the victims he interrogated were still in a state of shock and their accounts could be easily dismissed, others were more disturbing. A couple of connections on the LAPD and the California National Guard had admitted, off the record, that there had been some strange events that night but declined to further comment on the issue, claiming matters of national security. He had also been informed that a special anti-terrorist task team had deal with the attackers and that the aircraft were they arrived and their weapons where something never been seen by the government officials involved. Later inquiries with the Department of Defence, FBI, The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms and DEA had come to zero, with all agencies denying the existence of such a force. From where was that team then, he asked. And where did they go afterwards?

He adjusted his glasses and looked at the computer monitor in front of him. Two military officers could be seen outside a jet aircraft the likes of which Blake had never seen on his career. Other images showed men helping out wounded comrades board the aircraft, which was parked on a regular street, carrying some strange looking weapons. He had their existence confirmed on film. Although there wasn't any pictures or footage of the attackers, since all had been confiscated by the military or the folks in the area had been too busy surviving than having the time to take a photo, a news crew from a local television station had filmed the departure of the team. It had been aired, but in the middle of all the confusion surrounding the attack, the media and the public had simply looked at it with no greater significance. Even his editor had dismissed the images, telling Blake to worry more about next day's paper and not to pay attention to crackpot alien stories. 

But there was more to the eye here than it seemed, Blake had decided. The news agencies and the media in general hadn't really picked up the subject yet, but the Web was full of reports of UFOs all over the world. The subject had been deemed with a mere curiosity from the media, as a last resort measure to fill up the remaining spot in a news program or a small article in the last page of the paper. But they were pilling up and this just seemed like more than tabloid press stuff.

When his computer beeped, letting him know that he had just received an email, Blake let go of a comment: "It was about time!" None of the few reporters in the huge room care to take notice of it. At that hour in the night if you were in the room it meant a huge amount of work to be done and everyone was well familiar with the occasional moments of desperation. 

He had sent the images to a friend he had on the Department of Defence in order to get an identification of the military and weapons involved. Now the reply had arrived, it seemed. He used the mouse to open the email and took a deep look at the monitor. It read: 

"From: magicdragon@rocketmail.com

Date: Friday, February 12th, 1999

To: eblake@nytimes.com

 Subject: Take a look at our web pages – Completely free!

Evan, 

I've checked the items you have sent me against available records. I could have gotten myself into a lot of trouble, so next time don't even ask for it. The craft present in the pictures have been identified as a Yak-155 Skyranger, the latest Russian transport aircraft, capable of vertical take-off and landing. It isn't supposed to be in service yet. And both the large weapons are latest Russian personal infantry cannons. The white circle with a red X that was visible on the craft painted on its side wasn't been identified as any known insignia of any army or unit. 

One of the two officers in the images has been positively identified as Colonel Erwin Johnson, of the US Army. He is a Green Beret Special Forces operative, with a tour of duty that includes Grenada, Panama, the Gulf War, Somalia and Bosnia. Last information available reported him as being the executive officer of the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment, presently based at Fort Campbell in Kentucky. The other officer is Lieutenant Leonard Hunt, of the Navy SEALs, assigned to the unit based on San Diego Naval Base. His insignia of Captain on the photo suggests he's been attached to an Army or Air Force unit and have been given the correspondent rank on those services. 

K."

Well, well, well, what have we got here, Blake asked. Two elite American officers leading into combat an unknown military force equipped with Russian equipment? How and why did that happened? After a moment of thought Blake picked up the phone. He made one call; got the number he wanted from the operator and then made another to Fort Campbell. After some seconds the connection was established an a female voice appeared on the other side of the line: 

"Fort Campbell main desk, how can I help you?"

"Good evening, I was trying to reach Colonel Johnson. We have did service together a couple of years ago, and I just arrived at Memphis. I would like to try to see him again"

"Colonel Johnson is not at the base right now, sir"

"I see, well will he be back tomorrow or is there a way to contact him? I'm staying for the weekend"

"Sir, Colonel Johnson is on extended leave. I'm sorry but I can't provide you with more details about his location at the moment. But I can take a message for him if you want"

"Well, in that case, don't worry. I will try to get in contact with him later. Thank you very much, good night" Blake then hang up the phone, after knowing all he wanted. 

"What is going on here? Where are you Colonel and what are you up to? An unofficial operation using Russian hardware on US soil? That will sure need some serious explanation tomorrow. Better yet, on Monday". Blake then turned off his computer and went home to get some deserved sleep. 

February 17th, 1999

Mother One, Black Forest, Germany

Commander Illyuschenko remembered some of the old Communist party officials and for a moment, wished that they were here. Dealing with Dr. Chevereux had proven to be a task a little harder than impossible. Although he was willing to bend his ideas sometimes and admit he was wrong, that only happened through a very detailed, precise logic, or at nearly gunpoint. While Illyuschenko didn't have to bring out his handgun anymore after his recruitment of Chevereux for the team, he sure had felt the need a couple of times since the Doctor had moved to Mother One. 

"I'm telling you Commander, my engineers and scientists can't be working at three projects at the same time!"

"Dr. Chevereux, we desperately need both the advanced armour and the new laser weapons at the same time! You have seen the casualty rate of the Los Angeles mission. We can't sustain more heavy losses like that!"

The doctor simply shook his head. "We need to maintain the Elerium research. This element can revolutionize Earth's science! It can close the gap between our and theirs technology!"

"That won't do us a good damn thing if we only learn how to use it at the moment of our defeat sir!"

"You have seen the evaluation and progress reports. The next planned experiment will sure allow us to test our theories."

"And how many more reports will it take until you finally know for what good is that thing? And after that, how many more reports until it has some practical use?"  
"Science is slow bringing answers, Commander"

"Yes, but in some areas the advances can come quickly. You have almost actually recreated the alien alloys, but suddenly you removed most of the scientists and assigned them to Elerium research. And when the first laser papers came from Area 51 you hardly paid attention to them."

"The basic research is done. We only need now to test it and start building prototypes"

"Which you hadn't so far, leaving our troopers under gunned!"

"Commander, from what I know, our weapons can kill the aliens"

"And theirs can also kill us, but more easily!"

They both paused, Illyuschenko taking a pause to look around on his office, and hoping for the discussion to have an end.

"General?"

"Yes, Doctor?"

"I know about the men who are on the base infirmary still, after their first mission, with burned limbs. If you agree I will augment the research of protection, and afterwards direct the scientists to weapons. But I will also retain a valuable part of our resources directed to physics and Elerium."

Although an agnostic, Illyuschenko thought about heaven and said a blessing. 

February 19th, 1999

CIA Headquarters, Langley, Virginia, US

Williams was having a bad time knowing who to trust with the information he had just learned about the existence of an Earth undercover movement that had been hiding the aliens existence for decades, if not more. The whole thing looked to him as the perfect surprise attack. Before moving your military units you took over of the enemy's intelligence services, confusing them to hide your real intentions. In the intelligence business that was a well-known tactic, to slip false information to confuse the enemy's assessments and evaluation of your own plans.

In this case it was much worse. The existence of such a wide cover-up could only mean that all of the intelligence and military agencies were infiltrated at a very high level. While the leadership of the CIA or the NSA or even the Pentagon might not be directly involved, the men in charge relied on their subordinate's work to make decisions. Which meant that this could not be dealt with in the official and proper channels. The power of the conspirators would be more than enough to eliminate any threat to them and silence the delators before they could even prove anything. Williams suddenly realized that his life, and the ones of the men assembled in front of him, was already in danger just for knowing the existence of the traitors. But his assessment team would not know for now the full implications of his discovery. Their work would still be based on the assumption that there was an alien infiltration of human society. They just wouldn't know that a group of humans were actively dealing with the aliens for decades, possibly centuries, with a secret agenda to the rest of mankind.

But the release of the laser technology showed also one thing: there must be different factions inside this secret group and that one of them had decided to give X-Com's a hand. But for what purpose? Williams couldn't just believe that they had turned suddenly sympathetic towards their fellow humans. A conspiracy of such an order would have mean that those men were ruthless, possessing a cold logic and not letting such feelings interfere. But the incident also assured him that the aliens weren't in charge of the group through their mind control powers. Although there might be some influence by them, if they had full control it was highly unlikely that such an event would pass undiscovered and the traitors punished. Unless, of course, there was also different factions between the aliens, some opposed to the war. Stop! This speculation is meaningless unless it can be supported with evidence, he thought.

He had decided that first he needed to spot out any infiltrators in the evaluation team. And also that he couldn't trust his superiors. The book said that he should have informed his superior, the Chairman of the National Intelligence Council, but the implications of his discovery had pointed him as one of the most likely suspects since he reported to the Director of Central Intelligence and thus, to the President itself. The other members of the committee were also considered by Williams as untrustworthy. The entire team gathered all the intelligence work of the several agencies into several research areas. They decided what information was important and what could be dismissed. Which put them as most likely suspects, but the list was already too big. 

The idea of alien infiltration had been mainly dismissed by his superiors, claiming that they didn't saw ET's walking down the street and taking pictures of Capitol Hill. But the recent data from Los Angeles regarding the aliens' psionic powers had suddenly given it a lot of credibility. The footage taken from the X-Com's team helmet cameras had more than impressed everyone who saw it. The first measure taken had been to deploy a fully equipped armoured brigade to the outskirts of Washington, along with an F-15C Eagle fighter squadron to Andrews AFB and full time protection for all major governmental officials. It had been decided that the danger of alien abduction and brain washing had suddenly become too real. 

MacAllister's face showed just that. They were both in Williams' office at the CIA headquarters and he had just finished seeing the footage of Colonel Johnson's camera, the image of Lt. Parkenson's face impressing the DIA men with its void eyes at the moment he was attacking the Colonel. And the bullet from Jones that stopped it. 

"Yikes. This ain't good Williams"

"I know. The DCI and the Chairman are already informed, and a full briefing is scheduled for tomorrow with the President and other superior officers"

"We could be in serious trouble. The abduction reports we have received show that the aliens must have some sort of suppression memory for the abductees. With both of them combined, they could order any man to do their commands and afterwards have the memory erased."

"Well, it actually isn't that problematic. The debriefing from the LA engagement shows that they need to be close in order to actually control anyone. That doesn't bode well for espionage operations. If they wanted to control anyone inside Langley they would actually have to get inside and it seems highly unlikely, at least since the conflict has started, that they would be able to do that"

"Yes, but still we have to take it into account this factor"

"Yes, that's why I fully supported the recommendation of the National Security Adviser, when she was informed of the problem, for an investigation into our intelligence and military circles. The President should authorize the decision when he is briefed on the subject". 

"Very well" MacAllister paused for a minute and then asked: "Why isn't the rest of the team here Williams?"

"I will be meeting each one of them separately on the afternoon to show them what you just seen and to give them their instructions about the investigation"

"Their instructions about the investigation? Shouldn't this be assigned to the FBI in the civil investigations and to the Defence Security Service in the military?"

"My recommendation is that each agency conduct its own enquiries about the other."

"You are nuts man!"

"From what we know, we could have mole agents lurking around these same corridors, with them not knowing that they are working for the aliens agenda. If they have been undetected for years, it means that they know our investigation procedures and that they will be useless on this case. Which means we will have to bypass the normal channels and procedures"

"But this is impossible to achieve. Interagency rivalry will only hamper the investigations. Everyone hates internal affairs folks, and if they are from another organization, the feelings get even worse"

"They will just have to understand"

"And you think Congress will understand? The CIA Act passed by the Hill specifically states that the Agency is forbidden to undertake espionage operations on US soil. And the NSA officially doesn't tap communications on American citizens or entities"

"Both Houses majority and minority leaders, along with the Supreme Court will be consulted before the President taking such a decision. If necessary, the Congress will be asked to pass legislation accordingly. But from what I have heard the legislators who are informed of the alien menace have been deeply shocked by the attack on LA. I think the public outcry would be more if it was known that we are not doing all we can"

"Williams, this is bad, in any case". And you don't know the full extent of it, Williams thought. Or do you?

"The investigations will be focused and directed. Your job will be to advise the DIA's, and specially the DSS efforts. They will receive orders to check the NSA. Since they have a double military/civilian role, the repercussions should be less"

"Very well. What should we look for?"

"Evidence of a cover-up. The aliens must have distracted in one way or another our intelligence community. You will need to research who could have forged or destroyed records of their existence"

"More easily said than done. Most folks won't be that cooperative"

"This will be a very secret operation, officially it will even be done under some other motive, so that we don't spook our pray into hiding. But if you need, well stick the Presidential order on their face if you have to. From the moment he signs it, it will place the counter-intelligence efforts into national security area. If someone deliberately hampers the investigations they can be put into trial for treason"

"Jesus! Isn't that a bit excessive?"

"Well, if you ever have the chance, please ask the aliens if they don't think their attack on Earth is a bit excessive"

"Ok, ok. By the way, who will check me and the DIA?"

"The FBI."

"Jesssus! Not that pain in the butt. Who will check them, by the way?"

"The NSA. They will also verify the CIA, so your job in checking them is most important."

"The boys up in Ft. Meade will have a blast on that one, after decades of being placed into a secondary role to the CIA"

"Necessity is the mother of invention", Williams added with a grim smile. 

Later in the day his smile turned into a frown when Assistant Director of the FBI Mark Davis walked into his office. This was probably one of the hardest decisions he had to make to his entire life and he felt that the destiny of Earth could be decided right here. 

Davis and him exchanged greetings, but the look on each man's face was a bit less than cordial. The FBI man sat on a chair and instantly said:

"Ok Williams, cut the crap. Why aren't the other team members were? What is going on, because I don't like driving for hours from Washington to here for nothing. I already received the investigation orders before from my boss and we are ready for when the President signs them"

"I have a special job for you. Far more important than your orders. The one you are trained to do"

Davis expression suddenly became crossed with a mix of curiosity and scepticism.

"Yeah? Let's hope you are not asking me to create something like the X-Files on my department?"

"Actually no. I'm asking you to search for humans. That must stand for trial one day for treason"

"We will be doing that in no time, Christ!"

"No. These ones actually know that they committed treason. In fact, they are still doing it, interacting with the aliens for their own purposes"

Davis became shocked. And angry.

"This better not be a joke or a big blunder from you intelligence boys!"

"Unfortunately know. I will tell you what has happened for me to come up with such conclusion. I haven't shared my thoughts about it with anyone yet. And afterwards you will judge if I'm right or if I've been thinking too much in conspiracy terms". Williams started talking, telling the whole laser incident and how he related it to the arrival of the aliens. We was stopped by Davis a couple of times, who asked for some more explanation in some of the details. When he finished everything, including the reasons why he had not told anyone else, the FBI man asked:

"Then why are you telling me all of this? How come you believe I'm not actually one of that alien fifth column?"

"Because you are a big pain. You have questioned everything from the first place. You drove nearly everyone on the team nuts with your sceptical observations. If you were one of them you wouldn't do that. You would remain in passive stance, but secretly working to gain more influence over things"

"But what if I did it just to confuse more the research? To keep the deception?"

"Unlikely again. After one year of recorded intense UFO activity, the group knew they just couldn't keep the lid opened"

"True. But if it eliminated anyone that had came up with your conclusion, they would remain anonymous. What if I pulled my gun out this moment and killed you? If I have such power I could probably walk out of here with nothing happening to me" He reached for his holster and drew out his service pistol, pointing it at Williams. "Would you have anticipated this?" He then asked. 

Williams turned cold for a second. He breathed and said: "If that happened, then I would be the most terrible mistake I had ever made"

Davis looked straight at him and Williams just gave up for one second, suddenly aware of the great darkness that would involve him in the next second. 

The FBI man put his gun away and sat back down. 

"You got yourself a believer now. For you to be so afraid it means you actually believe in that shit. And it sounds true to me also. What you want me to do?"

"Fuck. You got a way of doing things!" Williams's legs were shaking, with the chair keeping him from falling into the floor. 

"Sorry, but I needed to be sure this wasn't a spy game and that I was just a pawn"-

"Well, please don't do that again" He regained his thoughts. 

" No one besides us must tell this to anyone. I know no one else I can fully trust."

"Me neither. The Bureau must be like an old house full of mice just wondering around".

"The FBI will be involved anyways in every investigation, so I want you to see how your men do things. Observe them without them knowing. See if they report back everything or act like they should. See what the folks from the other agencies do also. If you find one, let me know".

"We follow it?"

"Yes. We track everything about him."

"My line of work. You got yourself a deal".

February 22nd, 1999

Vicinity of Marrakech, Morocco 

The UFO had been detected by the Spanish Air Defence Command as it crossed the Iberian Peninsula, entering it through the northwest and crossing the whole of Spain. The Ejercito del Aire, or Spanish Air Force, had been asked to stand down by Mother One and not try to intercept the craft as it crossed Spanish territory. The reason for Commander's Illyuschenko decision was simple, Colonel MacTaggert thought. The research and engineering team had both asked for a bit more contention with the interceptions, to allow the recovery of all the alien materials present on the craft. And also, the European Command wasn't yet equipped with an F-22 Interceptor, since the funding available had been used into equipping the base and to pay for the brand new Skyranger that the X-Com team was now using to race to their target before it took off.

The midday sun was striking the plane's, going through the windows and making everyone on the craft hot, since the Black Forest at this time of the year was cold, wet and cloudy. As the Skyranger moved across the Atlas Mountains, MacTaggert looked by the window and saw a city of white buildings and blue roofs standing in the middle of a small elevation. All around the village the terrain was dry and arid, with rock and sand mixing up. 

"Why would anyone live here, Pearson? At least the Highlands have plenty water," he asked to the second in command at the mission. Captain Pearson, formally a Lieutenant in the Special Air Service, who had been promoted because of casualties in the last mission, looked and sighed.

"Well sir, I'm not used to such terrain, but I can sympathise with the water concept. Things here are just too dry". 

The rest of the team said nothing, trying to relax or doing a final check on their weapons. MacTaggert still had its doubts about the whole thing. The fourteen men embarked on the Skyranger had came up from five different countries, each speaking a different language and with a different culture. His executive officer at Mother One was German. His superior was Russian. And the damn science chief was a pain in the arse Frog. They all spoke English, of course, but some of them with an accent that made MacTaggert almost cringe every time he heard it. European Union, my arse! He thought. Look at what they are doing with the bloody language!

"Colonel, two minutes till target" his radio came alive, the Dutch pilot showing no trace of emotion. "The Americans have spotted it on their reconnaissance satellites and have pointed us the location. It is a…Celtic cross type". 

"About bloody time! Everyone load up your little firecrackers and prepare to deploy."

The Skyranger approached the UFO from the Northeast. The craft was standing in the top of an arid small plateau, without making any attempt to disguise itself. As the plane was moving close to the elevation and turning to circle it, MacTaggert could see figures suddenly stopping whatever they were doing in this God forsaken place and moving. He didn't like that, specially since they were not Sectoids, but a different alien race. 

The Skyranger suddenly jerked to one side and everyone in the passenger compartment was thrown to the right. 

"Bloody idiot! De Wuijers, what are you doing!"

"Colonel, the aliens are firing and have hit us with one of their weapons. Right side engine has ceased working. I'm still on control of the plane, but I will have to land it away from those things"

MacTaggert barked into the radio "Just get us down into one piece". "Attention everyone, the Landing Zone is damn hot! All teams prepare yourselves for deployment."

The Skyranger landed outside the plateau, in a valley formed by a long dried river that bordered it. Its left side landed first and for a minute the landing gear looked as if it wouldn't be able to support the full weight of the craft. The other wheels finally touched the ground and afterwards the loading ramp came down, the men of Blue team already running its length and deploying to cover possible hostiles nearby. 

Gunfire erupted instantly as the troopers started to respond to aliens on the border of the plateau who kept a murderous rate of fire from their Elerium weapons at the team. While MacTaggert was waiting to deploy, the team's radio circuit become active:

"I'm hit! Medic!"

"Take the left one!"

"Where, I can't see it!"

"One of them is flying!"

"They got us pinned down!"

"Etienne is dead!"

"Bloody hell!" MacTaggert cursed "Gold, Blue and Red teams take cover! Grey team remain on the craft! De Wuijers, bring this bastard up and land us on the other side of them!"

"Colonel, we have taken a lot of damage"

"If we don't take care of them we will all be dead! Do it now!"

The whining of the Skyranger's engines became heard again and it lifted itself with difficulty. MacTaggert went up to the pilot's cabin to have a better look. De Wuijers was immobile on his seat, concentrating on keeping a stable flight path. He looked through the windows. The aliens on the ground and air were about two meters tall had a red and pink colour. They had a humanoid appearance with head and upper limbs, but instead of legs they had some sort of grey circular mechanical device like if it was a cyborg. The red cape they were and the pink horns that started on its temples but pointed downwards gave them a menacing look, like demons from the stars. And the eyes were black, almost expressionless, in opposition to the mouth, which showed some grey teeth and almost had no upper lip, the nostrils opening directly into it.  

"De Wuijers, ram that bloody idiot who is on the air spotting and directing fire into our troops!"

"Pardon, Colonel?!"

"Ram it! Point this thing at it and go over it!"

The pilot looked at his commander unsure of what to do. As the craft was getting close to the floating alien, MacTaggert grabbed the control stick and suddenly jerked it to the side. The cockpit in front of De Wuijers suddenly become filled with the pink face of a surprised alien, his eyes open wide. Then a thump suddenly removed him out of sight and the Skyranger shook a bit. Alien blood spilled to the Plexiglas, dotting it with green spots.

"Now land this thing on the other side of the UFO and lets get this over with!" MacTaggert screamed, while he went back to the exit of the aircraft, getting a machinegun on the way. 

February 25th, 1999

Mother One, Black Forest, Germany

Eva Johannes was feeling miserable. While she had been more than thrilled when she was assigned to Ununpentium research, the initial excitement had been quickly changed into frustration. The element was just too exotic on its nature for Earth science to understand it, with certain qualities never heard of in physics. They were starting to unravel its secrets, but progress was painstakingly slow. And also dangerous. A whole lab chamber had been reduced to ashes during one of the experiments. Initial research of the weapons retrieved from the recovery sites showed the existence of a particle accelerator. Which led to the theorization that the device was some sort of a trigger for the discharge of the weapon. Based on that, the scientific team in charge of the Ununpentium had decided to bombard the element on laboratory with charged particles to test their theory. After extracting a small part of the element it had been placed on a special vacuum chamber and hit with charged particles beamed from an accelerator. It had produced the reaction they expected, a release of energy. But far greater then they would have imagined. The explosion had completely destroyed the test chamber, taking with it the monitorization equipment and the lives of the two scientists who were testing it. Since then strict rules over the use of Elerium, as the team was now calling it, after someone had mentioned the initial electricity present in the group, in experiments had been implanted. And with good reason, since the data that had been salvaged indicated that the element contained more energy on its mass than Plutonium. Which gave it an immense destruction potential. But they still didn't know what was responsible for such a reaction. No radiation had been detected, which meant that there was not a fusion or nuclear reaction involved. 

But what caused the burst? Eva and the whole team were still discussing the subject. Some claimed the explosion had all the characteristics of a positive-negative matter reaction, but it still hadn't been tested. They where waiting for a special chamber to be built using alien alloys, which would be more secure and would allow to perform more experiences. 

She decided to take a pause, her eyes already tired of looking at all the calculations she had been making on her laptop. After a moment of thought she decided to go and get herself a cup of coffee at the automatic machine that was on the corridor. She looked around. No one else was at the laboratory, so she decided to check the time. One in the morning, great another night of four hours of sleep. She got up and went to the door. When she was getting a cup a voice came up. 

"Mademoiselle, can you get me one also please?" She looked and saw Lejeune, one of the French scientists that were on the team. 

"Sure, François. What are you doing up this late?"

"We are finishing the first field armour prototype. Tomorrow it will go to the ballistic range to be tested"

"Be sure to hurry up with that project. We are sure needing the special alloys to start doing our own experimentations on the Elerium"

"We will. Do you care to take a look?"

"Of course. I sure needed the distraction". Both of them got their coffee and when to a laboratory situated further down the corridor. As they entered, Johannes thought that her brother's room was even more organized. The whole place was filled with broken pieces of UFO's structure, with materials disassembled over research desks. She got down an picked up a piece of the alloy. It had a nearly rectangular form, with almost one feet of length and it was grey, with a bluish tone on it.

Lejeune turned to her and said: "Try to bend it". She grabbed it with both hands and applied strength to it. The material gave in and she become surprised as how easily she could mould it into an U.

"Now release it, but slowly, otherwise you might get hurt by its movement". She relaxed her right hand and as she gave away the strength, the material went back to its original position.

"We tried about everything on then. First diamond cutters, then the lasers that are used to cut crystals. Pretty soon Dr. Chevereux wanted to convince Commander Illyuschenko to conduct experiments with radiation on it. We discovered that under certain circumstances it would give in, namely the angle of entry of the cutter and so on, but we still couldn't mould it"

"What did you do then?"

"We almost gave up until the lab results arrived. They showed that, although it was a fabrication process never heard of, it could be repeated here on Earth using available materials."

"How do you give shape to it?"

"We use a electro-magnetic process on certain plastic and metal alloys combined together. Its unique capabilities came the mix of qualities present on both materials"

"Very well."

"Would you like to see the prototype?"

"Please, yes"

He led her into the back of the lab, where what looked like a mannequin was covered with a cloth. Lejeune then removed the white coverall to show a blue armour that had been placed on a test dummy model. It had a faint resemblance to the armours saw in the books and films about medieval times, but it didn't look as cumbersome. It was basically a section that covered the entire upper body, being designed to resemble a human torso. Some material that resembled plastic or rubber was used to the connection points for the plates that covered the arms and legs and also at the knee, elbow, ankle and wrist joints to allow for mobility. At least it didn't have nipples designed on it, Johannes thought, like the uniform they used for Batman at the movies. 

"It looks impressive. When will it be available to be used?"

"The tests should take about more of a week."

"Why so much time?"

"Well right now we will test the resistance to penetration. If all works we shall then adapt the armour to allow it to be used in combat. We still haven't worked on the way of allowing the user movement. And we are still deciding on the helmet shape."

"And this would stop a discharge from one of their weapons?"

"We don't know. We will test it with lasers, but from what we have seen in the combat reports, it looks as if it will be more durable than any Earth material, but it will still have its limitations."

"Very well"

"Well, thank you. We were hoping that Dr. Chevereux would volunteer to use the armour on the first trials, but unfortunately it doesn't seem so". They both laughed at the suggestion. The Scientific Leader of X-Com had quickly built himself a reputation as an unforgiving and demanding character, nearly driving everyone nuts or into exhaustion.  Eva thought about the North American scientific them and how lucky they were. 

February 28th, 1999

Area 51, Nevada, US

The conference room was crowded of X-Com troopers, all wearing their black uniforms. The group of military men was picking up their places to sit, the veterans naturally getting together and being more at ease, while the recent newcomers still refrained a bit, unsure of what to do. Johnson took a look at them and wondered how many of the rookies would die, if they would be able to survive more than their predecessors. More than half of the North American team members had, by now, been killed or injured. But the number of volunteers for X-Com had continued to rise, to a point where the number of new admissions had to be halted because there wasn't a need or means to deploy that much men. Apparently the rumours about the existence of X-Com had spread around the Special Forces community and it was seen as a honorous assignment. It seemed that the talk inside the military circles didn't include the casualties though. Johnson by now knew he was in command of one of the best units ever on his life, with all the men acting like professionals, on a team manner. Each new recruit, upon his assignment to a squad, would receive a crash but severe training course about the aliens and how to defeat them by its own section members. Usually, if he didn't learn enough quickly, specially on how to use the tactics on the battlefield, or if he was too stubborn or had a high opinion of himself, he would die. Survival of the fittest at its final, the human race against the alien race. Even Harris had quickly stepped into line, never questioning any command and being one hell of a fighter pilot. He looked over the scientific reports, analysing the data to look for possible weaknesses of their craft. He had been the pioneer of most of the aerial tactics they were using now. Although in many of the cases they involved high-speed suicidal chases lasting until the interceptor could get into range to use all of its missiles on the target before it had time to run away, it worked. That is, if you ignored the occasional damage suffered by the F-22s while dodging alien fire on the their attack runs. 

The team was splitting. Next day the other half would flew to their new base in the Appalachian Mountains and would become active the next day. The new recruits had been divided into each team and all of them had been training together for the past days, taking advantage of the almost zero UFO activity over the North American continent in the past weeks. They had devised a new organization based on the lessons learnt at the Los Angeles attack. Now there were four men by each squad, one of them carrying a heavy weapon, three sections in the Skyranger plus the sniper two-man team. And other changes were also coming along, this time some real advances in the war with the aliens.

After all men were seated, he and Colonel Jackson got up along with their respective executive officers. To replace Hunt he had chosen one of his former subordinate officers when he was placed at Fort Campbell, Captain Forrester. The man still looked a bit out of his place, but he was getting better after the initial shock of knowing about the alien invasion. But once he learned everything he would be the finest for this position.

He looked at the group of men in front of him, a multitude of black figures all looking for him. The dark colour reminded him of what would be the cost of defeat. Sometimes it made him scared shitless, but most of the time it would give him motivation. And while reading the reports from Mother One he had received the night before, he had felt both feelings also.

He picked out Hopkins in the crowd. The black man seemed to be fully recovered, although some scars wouldn't disappear. The blast of the destruction of the rocket launcher had left his hands and face with burns and they now showed the effects of it. "Scars are reminders of our own stupidity", he had said the first time he saw himself after the attack. Or at least that was the rumour on the base, since no one had the balls to ask him directly. Johnson suddenly realized that many of the veterans also had disfiguring physical scars, moulded by the blast of the Elerium weapons. Some like Tyrell's and Hopkins's were at plain sight, but others kept them hidden under their uniforms and flesh. He wondered about how good he was doing his job and if he would get a scar or a grave. Despite the serious tone of the meeting, he noticed again that some of the men were wearing unofficial patches on their uniforms. Colonel Jackson had supported the idea, but Johnson was still unsure about it. Identification with their unit gave the men some sort of belonging and motivation but it also could lead them into crazy acts. And he wasn't sure of liking the insignia the East Coast team had chosen when he looked at Jackson and saw the circular blue patch on his left shoulder. It depicted an white headed eagle looking for prey, with the words "North American" on top and "Wild Hunters" at the bottom of the circle. The design had been Jackson's suggestion, with no doubt, since he came from an airborne division. Somebody had come up with the West team's counterpart, which showed a wolverine with its claws and fangs filled with green alien blood, together with the words "Take Me To Your Leader". At least the West team had a sense of humour, and didn't display the wild bravado of the other one. He didn't knew how had drew it, but Garcia, Jones, King and some others had quickly adopted it. He noticed than none of the rookies were using the insignias. He guessed it was some sort of showing yourself: if you could do the job and survived the first encounter with the aliens you would earn the right to wear the badge. But, dismissing his thoughts, Johnson addressed the audience:

"Good morning all. This will be the final briefing before the day's exercises and the departure of half of you tomorrow. But before you all haul your asses to the training range and do as miserably as you can before the goodbye party scheduled for tonight," that brought grins on most of the men, "I have bad news, worse than bad news, could be better news and good news". The smiling faces were replaced by looks of attention. 

"First, the really bad news" He signalled Forrester and lit up a laser pointer. An image of a large alien gun came up, together with the already known Elerium rifle. The white weapon was about five feet meters long, when compared to the four feet length of the rifle. The last third of the barrel had a rectangular bulge, probably the muzzle of the weapon since what seemed to be the trigger was on the other side. The substance from which the weapon was made gleamed white and a small blue clip was situated right at the end of the stock.

"This his the weapon responsible for the recent losses of the European team. In the Moroccan operation just one alien was armed with it and still it managed to severely damage the Skyranger aircraft and was responsible for the death of many fellow troopers. Like the rifle it is capable of sustaining auto fire and it is much powerful than it. If you seen an alien carrying one of this things, drop him. This is a very heavy and dangerous cannon, or whatever they call it". The mood of the room suddenly become more sombre.

"But the Science and Engineering Departments have good news". The images on the projector had been replaced by the one of a strange pistol. The barrel had an ellipsoidal shape and the whole weapon looked more as something taken from a science fiction movie. 

"This is the Mark I laser pistol. One single shot from this weapon has a little more of the penetrating power of a 5.56 calibre round. It is capable of auto fire, although unlimited use of it will drain out the batteries after a while."

"Sir", Garcia interrupted, "we are going to use pistols that aren't that much better from our current weapons against those cannons? Doesn't look like even odds to me".

"I know, Garcia, and the magical science wizards fortunately saw that also, in a brief moment of inspiration and sense of reality. That's why they also developed this" The image of the pistol was replaced by what looked like a red cylinder with metals parts attached to it, forming a gunstock, hand support and a trigger.

"The Mark III laser rifle. This thing is almost as potent as anti-personnel round from one of our cannons, again with auto fire. From what I've been told, they have experimenting a lot of concepts with the laser technology they have just discovered, and this one is about to enter production."

"It sure as hell looks ugly sir. I still prefer my autocannon, Russian or not".

"And you will keep it for now. Apparently they are developing a heavier version, but power requirements deem that it will be without auto fire capability, which means that we will stick to the tactical versatility of the cannons for fire support."

"And when will this new zap gun be available to us sir?"

"Today you will all have the chance to test it at the range. We already have one unit available here at the base and Dr. Mantell and his men are calibrating and making the final checks on it at the moment". Several of the uniformed troopers grinned. "Now we kick ass!" Jackson shouted and the room was suddenly filled with roars. Johnson looked at Jackson with disapproval. Although they both held the same rank and Jackson was actually older and had more time in the service over Johnson, the West Coast commander had seniority on X-Com over Jackson. 

"This might help, but remember to keep your ugly heads down and not jumping into heroics, you idiots! I would prefer to get back here in one piece, than having a medal on my chest replacing by burned out arm or having to share a ride to hell with the dead aliens!" Hopkins's voice shouted out the troops. Even Jackson kept his mouth quiet.

"Thank you Sergeant." Nothing like a senior non-commission officer to bring some sense into the troops, even the officers, Johnson thought. "Getting along, the development of body armour, as we have been vigourly requesting, is almost done". Another image showed up, of a dummy wearing some sort of blue body armour. Metal pads covered the limbs and torso, connected together by what seemed to be dark plastic. It even offered the head some sort of protection, with a curved plate covering the forehead and sides of the skull. This time shouts of cheer were more timid, fearful of the Gunny's reaction. 

"This is the Type 17 body armour, built using alien techniques."

"Type 17?" Garcia asked, "why didn't we use the other sixteen types before they come up with this one?"

"It took them a lot of experimentations before they come up with this. I think it's an ugly name also Garcia, so feel free to give any suggestions. In any case, there are still some glitches on the movement parts but Dr. Chevereux says that they will be ironed out pretty soon."

"So we will use them pretty soon?"

"Unfortunately not. In order to allow for manoeuvrability, each of these things has to be built specifically for each soldier. Which means that they will all take our measures and then start fabricating the suits. The end result is that we will have to wait some more time, since they weren't expecting the manpower that is necessary to build these things". 

"Meanwhile our asses keep getting fried up by the alien weapons".

"Nobody pays you to be sitting on the sun, marine, although the Corps have a long tradition of horsing around at the beach". Again uneasy laughter filled the room. 

Forbidden City, Beijing, People's Republic of China

Major Chen passed through the security guards posted at the door that lead to the Politburo's reunion office without even caring to salute them. His presence was waited and he couldn't spend time with trivial formalities. As he stopped by the massive elaborated bronze door, one of them opened it and he moved inside, holding his briefcase even tighter. 

Chairman Zhu was waiting inside, together with the Marshal that was the commander of the People's Liberation Army and one deputy that Chen never cared to remember his name. He saluted all of them and then spoke: 

"Comrade Major Chen reporting, comrades"

"Yes Major, if you please tell us now what seems so important for you to fly over here and risk the political consequences of the X-Com council finding out about this meeting" The Marshall tone implied that he was stating an order, not making a request. 

"Information just arrived through the X-Com information network that I believe of the severe importance comrades". He thought the Chairman might have risen and eyebrow. Since they were all silent, he continued:

"There is another race of aliens involved. They have been named Floaters, apparently due to their ability to hover unassisted on the air"

"Another race? Acting together with the so called Sectoids?" The Deputy queried. 

"Yes. They use the same equipment which supposes that there's an alliance of some sorts between them"

"Is that your assessment also, comrade Major?"

Chen froze. One thing was to pass on the available information, the other was to make judgements for which he would become liable.

"I would say that there might be an agreement between both of them" he paused, unsure of if he should take the next step. "And the Party might find some use later on the future of that alliance, specially if there are divergences between both races"

This time, the Chairman looked at him directly, probing him but keeping in silence. 

"The alien biochemistries are similar, but different. Analysis shows that the Floaters have been subject to massive surgery techniques, while the Sectoids are cloned. It could be assumed that one is the minor element of such an alliance, and as such, unhappy about its overall participation"

Zhu took some seconds before answering back. This was indeed an important development. He looked directly at the Major and finally spoke: "very well comrade Major. You have done well and your assessment, if right, might lead you well in the future. Anything else to report"

Chen stifled but decided to tell the other unpleasant news. "I have been unsuccessful so far on taking possession of any of the laser weapons X-Com has developed. Since the Chinese team is not yet operational, as by Party's orders, X-Com High Command has put the reequipment of my men into a low priority. And they are keeping a tight lid on the scientific information which is only available to scientists and top military leaders. All access to the computer net is heavily monitorized and our own laser technology is far less developed than the Russians or the Americans, which means that they apply the principles far more easily. We just don't have skilled professionals yet, comrades".

"Keep liasing with the Japanese and learn all their secrets. And finally upgrade our team to operational status. We will take care of the rest". 

_André Galvão, 2001_


	7. Bad Moon Rising

X-Com - The Unknown Menace

X-Com – The Unknown Menace

Chapter Six – Bad Moon Rising

March 3rd, 1999

Azamas 36, Siberia, Russian Federation

The industrial and scientific complex dated back from the 1970's, when the Soviet Space Program was at its full height, supported by the Communist regime as a way of proclaiming Socialist superiority in the space. The other function it served was less glamorous and propagandistic. It had been also built for the development of space weapons, which made it an above top-secret facility. Its own existence had only been revealed after the breakdown of the Soviet Union in 1991 and since then the military aspects had been cast aside until now, due to a change in the political and economical situation of the new Russian Federation. 

The grey concrete buildings that once served as homes for thousands of scientists and engineers were now mainly deserted due to the cutbacks on the program and the job proposals that had been made to the skilled personnel to work in the civilian sector and in other countries. But the few remaining inhabitants had noticed some changes in the past months. The security had been stepped up recently and all roads that lead to the city now had military checkpoints, manned by Ministry of the Interior troops. Inside the complex it was even tighter, with constant FSB patrols and a monitorization of all phone calls. But the people who worked there hardly took any annoyance of the changes. They meant that Moscow was interested again in their work, which meant better pay and conditions than generally found in other towns in Russia. Some wondered what had happened in the world for those changes to happen, but none cared to open their mouths since it was not wise to bite the hand that fed you. 

The city was powered up by a nuclear reactor. While it allowed all buildings to have heating in the long Siberian summer, it had been installed specifically for the purpose of supplying power to the high-energy weapons that were being developed. And today its power would be unreleased again after a lapse of years.

About a kilometre to the west of the residential buildings, a massive bunker had been built and now the dozen meters wide opening on its ceiling was open. Mechanical engines slowly and carefully pointed the device inside the bunker to its target. It looked nothing more than a cylinder almost two meters wide in diameter, but the power it released could easily destroy the star at the horizon to where it was pointed.

In an underground facility a group of scientists and military men were gathered in a control room. The final ground and space checks were made and after the green light was given from all stations, the chief scientist of the project asked the military commander of the facility for permission to fire which was given. The scientist then ordered one of his subordinates to execute the test. 

The fluoride laser didn't have any natural colour. But when it was inside the barrel of the weapon located inside the massive hangar the high-energy photons it contained interacted with the argon inside, energizing it and releasing energy in a blue wavelength. The inhabitants of the city and the security patrols who happened to be looking at its direction when it was discharged retained the image on their retinas for some minutes, disturbing their vision.

The crew at the Mir Space Station knew the safety procedures. If by any change they were nearby one of the windows and caught the blast they would turn blind instantly and they would die shortly afterwards, their internal fluids boiling and giving them a painful dismissal. But the calculations had been precise. The beam hit the mirror brought by the Progress supply ship that had been installed and calibrated over the last weeks by the extra crewmembers that had came on the Soyuz spaceship. 

The mirror itself was a wonder of optical design. It concentrated and reflected nearly all of the energy the laser had released, directing to another point in space. The high-energy photons, after having regained the destructive power that was lost in atmosphere dispersion travelled at light speed to its intended target. The whole action took less than a millisecond. But by then the deactivated Cosmos satellite, originally launched by the Soviet Union as a communications satellite had suffered the full effects of the blast. Its internal electronics were fried the same instant and the outer hull melted. The few remainig manoeuvring fuel it contained exploded, adding to the damage already caused by the laser.

On Earth a group of scientists congratulated themselves. Despite of the technical difficulties and the crash program that had been implemented in such a short notice, Project Umbrella had just become operational. The military commander smiled and went to his office to write a full report to be sent to the Kremlin. 

At the same time, alarms started going off in locations on Earth and elsewhere.

White House, Washington DC, US

Ten hours after the Russian test there was an emergency meeting at the Situation Room in the White House. One of the satellites that hovered in low orbit looking for possible Intercontinental Ballistic Missile launches had detected the huge energy blast and sent a warning to NORAD. The technicians had analysed it and breathed in relief as they eliminated the possibility that a nuclear warhead had just been launched and detonated by the Russians. But the test had sent other disturbing signals to the US hierarchy.

"Gentlemen, I've just got off the Red Line phone after having a conversation with President Larianov. He assured me that the weapon won't be used for Anti-Satellite purposes and that Russia has the right to defend itself from the alien menace with whatever means they chose to. I want to know your opinion about this matter" Winston wasn't appreciating the attitude of his Russian counterpart at all. The thing that they did not need now was a loose Russia, acting on its own.

The Secretary of Defence and the National Security Advisor started talking at the same time, but then both stopped and the secretary said: "Go ahead Mrs. May"

"Thank you Edward. Mr. President, this represents a serious threat to the US. They just acquired the ability to hit any of our space assets and also they most likely can hit targets on the ground"

"Not only that sir, but they just violated the ABM treaty and the Non-Militarization of Space agreement, when they placed that mirror in the Mir Space Station", the Secretary of Defence added.

"Hmm. Doctor Millard, what is your opinion of the capabilities of this weapon?"

The Special Scientific Advisor responded: "I doubt it can hit targets on land, due to the dispersion of the laser beam on the atmosphere. The use of the mirror allows then to recharge the destructiveness of the beam after it travelled over the atmosphere to space, but I doubt it can still have the same potential if reflected back to Earth"

"But if they gain access to the laser technologies that X-Com has developed it would mean serious trouble, Doctor" Candace May added.

"That why to minimize that risk that the X-Com Charter has a clause that keeps the release of all alien technology breakthroughs under the supervision of the UN leadership." The Secretary of State added.

"A wonderful clause that now leaves us in the dark" Defence snapped. "If we had automatic access to such technology we could devise a counter to it"

"We and who else, I might ask? The Iraqis? The North Koreans? The Libyans? Castro?" May countered. "I continue to fully support that clause, like I did when the treaty was signed. If the technology gets out on the street we will be in serious problem. Just imagine if the Russians knew that secret now: we would be under a continuous threat"

"Very well" Winston cut through the discussion, "I recognize all this arguments from before and I retain the decision I made then, that was ratified by the Senate later in a special secret session. What I want to know is if we can resolve this through diplomatic means"

"Unlikely sir" State responded. "We could bring it to the attention of the UN Security Council, but it would bring it out to the public. And if we agended it to the next meeting of the X-Com Council, I doubt that we will get any support. After all, the treaty says that every nation has the right to defend itself, using whatever means it seems fit, as long as they respect the secrecy of the invasion".

"But can this be used against the aliens? Dr. Willard, what to do think?"

"If they located a stable target, they might be able to hit it. It was designed for killing ICBM missiles that have a predictable flight pattern and are slow, as compared to a fast moving UFO. While it is a technological breakthrough, the practical effects against the alien menace are quite limited"

"Do we have anything similar?"

"No sir. The freeze out of the Star Wars program put into a halt almost all of our beam weapons programs. It would take months, even years for us to develop something similar at our present technological level. The only thing similar that we have is the kinetic weapons program, but even that one is far away from deployment and it was built to destroy single missile launches, not a fleet of spaceships"

"I think I heard enough gentlemen then. From now on, the US will develop such weapons and a strong message will be sent to the Russian government acknowledging their right to protect themselves but also that the weapon is seen with great concern by the US. Any use of it against American assets or military sources on the world and in space and also against our territory will be seen as an attack that will be responded in similar terms"

March 5th, 1999

Mansion outside Paris, France

Number Three had just arrived from a long flight and was feeling the effects of the jet lag. Still he tried not to be affected by them. Too much was at stake already. First the damn X-Com force and this latest communication from the aliens. They weren't pleased with the opposition encountered from the Earth's governments and it sounded as if they were questioning the whole deal. The bastards! How dared them, after decades of mischief and deception from them? The original intention of the creation of the group had been to develop ways to communicate and acquire alien technology. After the first contacts it seemed as they had a purely scientific interest on the planet and would pretty much leave it alone. When their real plans become known through the group's investigations, they became shocked and felling powerless, not knowing what to do. A deal was suggested and the members who opposed it were eliminated, others appearing to take their places. But even when an arrangement had been made, for several times the aliens forced it, or acted against the terms they had specified. How ironical that this is finally happening now, he thought. Then he cut through the ongoing discussion saying: 

"Do they think we did it on purpose or do they assume we don't have the control we told them?" Curious looks around the room focused on him. Number One spoke, after a second:

"Why would that be important? We have to be seen as blameless on this".

"It centers about it. If we negate any knowledge they will think lesser of us and make us irrelevant to their plans. On the contrary, if we make them think that we planned the whole event, they will be more careful and have to respect our power and us. The difference between death and survival".

An unspoken agreement flew around the room.

"We can make them wonder if we really did terminate the SDI program, as they ordered, after they discovering that we were behind it." Number Three knew that his position in the Group had just been raised, but probably not enough, as he wanted. It was time to make another climb.

"And we can help our services if they wanted to act to destroy the Russian laser. That way, not only we tell them that we still want to collaborate but we keep a control over things."

"But what about X-Com?" Number Two interrupted.

"We reduce its capability by arranging damaging encounters with the aliens. Their new laser technology is good, but not enough for all that is to come. And we start to manipulate certain social and political players"

"Reveal our existence?" One interrupted, suddenly angry for the way things were turning.

"Offer our assistance. But leaving no evidence, hiding our history and talking only to selected, high ranking officials, who can be easily eliminated if they betray us. Or, better yet, posing as aliens"

"And I believe you already have determined some candidates?" One's voice sounded of defeat.

"Indeed I do" Then Number Three proceeded to explain his variation to the plan. 

March 6th, 1999

Manhattan, New York City, US

Evan Blake pressed clicked his mouse to give the command to see the video again. When he had arrived at his desk on the Times and started off his desktop, he noticed that his email program was downloading an awful lot of big messages, which was unusual. He become suspicious when he saw the size of two megabytes of the first email, and that the following nine emails still downloading also had the same amount of data. Most disturbing was the fact that it didn't have a sender identified nor a direction to reply to. When he clicked to play the file it showed footage from a gun camera on an aircraft. The waiting period for the rest of the video files was well worth it. It was a recording taken by a military aircraft of an encounter with an UFO that looked as if had ended sourly for the plane. There was no indication of the date or place where it occurred or what plane was involved, but he had some clues from the footage. The background showed that it must have happened over the West and the apparent speed of the aircraft seemed to be more than supersonic, if not hypersonic. Which could only mean that it was a black-budget highly classified project. He needed to do some checks on the images, to see if they could be a forgery and to verify the speed of the plane, but he knew that this was a major story. Someone inside the military must be tired of the secrecy about this whole UFO situation, he thought, and how the establishment is dealing with it. This didn't prove that there were aliens out there, but it would raise some questions as to what was the craft involved and what happened on that incident. The Pentagon would be forced to give some answers to the whole thing. And it also told him where to look for Colonel Johnson. There was only one place where to look for highly classified research projects and that was Nevada. It was known that the U-2, SR-71, F-117 and B-2 advanced planes had been developed there. There were also rumours of that the secret replacement for the SR-71 plane was based there and that had supersonic capability. And that the US government had acquired since the 60s Soviet military aircraft and had tested them on Area 51. Most likely the Colonel would be placed on one of those bases, he thought. The problem was that they were highly classified facilities. If you took just a few steps inside the area around the facility you could be arrested and sentenced to jail. Worse than that, the Federal Government refused to acknowledge the existence of Area 51, which meant that his queries would be dismissed.

And he knew he needed some hard evidence for his editor to believe in the story. He had already been rebutted because of his interest on the subject. "Get me a little green men from Mars and you can write about aliens", his boss had said, "if not, stick to reality". 

In any case, if he could prove the authenticy of the video it would be a fantastic newsbreak, whenever it was really an UFO that had shot the craft out of the skies. And if he could trace the whereabouts of Colonel Johnson and link the base to the Los Angeles attack and the shot down of the plane it could even be Pulitzer Prize material. 

Middle of the Indian Ocean, Earth

The massive alien craft had just entered Earth's atmosphere some 200 miles south of the Maldives islands and was on a south-westerly course, heading for one of Sol Three's continents. No significant indigenous activity had been detected on the sector, which pleased and annoyed at the same time the Sectoid Commander on board. While he wanted to hit back the Sol Three's forces he knew that his mission called for discretion, since it was needed to advance the forward deployment of the fleet's forces. The natural satellite that orbited Sol Three's helped conceal the invasion fleet from detection, but it was also too inhospitable for the deployment of forces. And the supply lines were already too stretched out, which prevented fast reaction to hostile opposition. 

The other ships that comprised the detachment had also successfully entered the atmosphere and were travelling to the target area on schedule. But his ship would be the one who would secure the landing zone. The war machines it contained would prevent any Terran interference and allow for the next step of the invasion. 

March 8th, 1999

Mother One, Black Forest, Germany

Commander Illyuschenko moved his arms to his chest to check for the manoeuvrability of the body armour he was trying. He found it amazing that he hardly noticed that he was wearing it, since it didn't hamper any of his movements. He had been the first to wear to be issued the new Type 17 body protection, strenghtened by the use of alien alloys,by Dr. Chevereux's orders. He had counter ordered it and told that the ground troops should be the first equipped, since he wasn't going to do any combat operations soon, but the scientific chief had just started another discussion, saying that more important was to assure the survival of the military leadership. The whole question ended up at the UN's Secretary General desk, which had supported the doctor's decision. 

Looking at himself at the mirror on his quarters at Mother One, he thought that he was still in a prime shape to do some fighting on his armour, to take it to the field and test it. The years and the battles he had seen had brought him a lot of grey hairs, wrinkles and scars to show for, but he considered himself still quite fit for a man on his middle fifties. And by the way of it, he wasn't sure if he wouldn't have to occupy one of the seats in the Skyranger in the next missions. "Could I do it?" He asked to himself. Then he remembered Afghanistan again and the reports from the Los Angeles attack. It had been a civilian massacre. The clean up crews had reported that entire families had been gunned down in their houses, and in some cases human organs and blood had been removed from them, with the victims still conscious. It was happening all over again and he couldn't do anything to stop it, just send more men to be killed while they tried to defend the civilian population. 

He looked at his desk, which was pilled up with personnel files of possible new recruits to replace the soldiers lost in the Morocco operation. While he had given a public reprimand to Colonel MacTaggert about the order he had given to ram the alien, considering it reckless use of equipment and putting his men into danger, he had also congratulated him for taking an action that probably had saved the entire team. The Skyranger was still on the repair shop, but they didn't have a full team ready to deploy anyways. But it would take some time before it could be repaired. The spare parts hadn't arrived from Russia yet and his conversations with his government were turning sourer day after day, with President Larianov being short of calling him a traitor. The latest discussion had involved the demands of the release of the laser technology but Illyuschenko had been firmly against it, after seeing the reports of the development of the orbital laser. The weapon had no tactical use whatsoever and if both advances could be integrated it opened the possibility for the development of a new mass destruction weapon. The Russian appeal for a reversal of his decision to the X-Com's Council of Representatives had been dismissed and he thanked that not all politicians could be so short sighted. Of course, he knew that he had only bought some time, since the information would eventually be disseminated without his approval, through the use of intelligence operatives inside X-Com. The political aspects were just taking too much time and the damn intelligence agencies are just doing what they know best, he thought, which was complicating everything instead of helping, he thought. 

But things were looking up in general, he thought, as he looked at his new laser sidearm. It was durable and reliable in the test field and the new version of the pistol that was being planned would incorporate alien alloys that would make it even more resistant.

"Do they really are getting better or are they only going to get worse?" The voice inside him brought painful memories, of soldiers being torn apart in ambushes in the Afghani mountains, of the troopers who were captured by the enemy to be found cut into pieces. There were just too many things in common, he thought, too much casualties, too much blood. He looked at the cabinet where he had stashed his bottle of vodka, unsure of what to do. 

March 9th, 1999

Middle of Alaska, United States

The first thing that John Dulmer thought when he woke up was that he had fallen asleep and was late for duty. He worked as a technician for the Ballistic Defence Missile Warning System site that had been built by the US government in northern Alaska in the middle of the Cold War for detect possible Soviet nuclear strikes. Although he wasn't a part of the military that owned the place he had a very specific contract with them for the radar maintenance and they had activated a clause that obligated him to work overtime, although at a very convenient compensation. He didn't know what was the reason, although he suspected of trouble with China or Russia or something like that. The last weeks had been tough, with him having to pull a lot of extra shifts with no absence from base allowed. Until yesterday. Although it had taken him several hours, he considered the ride to the nearest town quite agreeable. It was nice to be back into civilization, although the town could hardly boost a thousand inhabitants. Memories of the day begun to come to his mind and he started to remember how tough the jeep ride back had been, for him to be still so tired that he couldn't hardly move. Then he realized that he wasn't on his bed and, worse still, he was naked with no sheets on. 

He opened his eyes and tried to get up from wherever he was but there was a strange force tying him down. After a brief moment of confusion as he stared on a grey metal ceiling unlike anything he had seen before, his brain picked up another presence in the room. He turned his head to his right side and become speechless as he looked into alien eyes that looked back at him, emotionless. As he opened his mouth to scream, his thoughts remembered the crackpot base rumours that said that NORAD had taken a peculiar interest into Unidentified Flying Objects. 

British Columbia, Canada

The Skyranger was racing across the Pacific Northwest once again and Johnson looked at the familiar mountains and forests that made this part of the continent. It was the first mission of his team after the near disastrous raid at Los Angeles. He hoped that everything worked out as planned, since he hadn't time to finish training the West Coast team, as he would have wished before engaging in a new confrontation with the aliens. Especially when the UFO detected was one of medium size, which didn't pose well for the success of the operation, when considering that it was similar on size to the one that had brought the terrorists to the Los Angeles attack. Although it had landed on a pretty remote area, which excluded the possibility of another such strike by the aliens, the area where it had chosen to come down to Earth was another bigger concern. The request for assistance had come up once again from the highest authorities, because of the possibility that it was a raid destined to destroy the missile warning radar site situated in Alaska. The radar sometimes also gave some forward warning against UFO incursions, which made it a very important strategic asset. That had to be defended at any cost.

The minus temperatures and the bad weather at this time of the year in the area had precluded an aviation strike against the craft, as it would have been desirable if they were in a search and destruction mission. So his team would have to sneak up on the aliens and take control of the craft in one swift strike. And there were other worries. He and Hopkins were the only ones who were wearing the new Type 17 armour underneath their cold weather garments. The other twelve members of the team had to rely on the old Kevlar body protection, which was close to nothing. 

Johnson checked again the power on his Mk III laser rifle, that had been painted white and grey, matching the camouflage that they were wearing. The weapon just looked too fragile and nimble for the power it could release. During the initial tests it had proven itself as being very efficient and, better yet, silent, which made it a perfect Special Forces weapon. At least the engineering department had managed to build enough rifles to equip completely the entire squad with them. Although the things hadn't been tested yet for cold weather operations, the scientists had theorized that they would work. Yeah right, my ass, he thought. That's why every team member had been issued a personal sidearm, consisting of either a Mark I laser pistol of a M9 nine-millimetre pistol that they all were underneath their clothes to keep them away from the heat. He looked at the team and felt a shiver, considering that most of them were rookies, although he had managed to keep some of his best men on the team. Hopkins had fully recovered and still stayed in command of Beta, making life miserably in general to the three new members that had arrived to fill the losses. Dennis, Garcia and Andrews were gone, moving to the base on the Appalachian Mountains to give some combat experience to the new team that had been formed, along with Captain Hunt. 

Tyrell's voice cracked on the combat radio, filling it with his Californian almost annoying accent. He had come from the Navy and was a Golden State native, based on San Diego. 

"Colonel, sir, just got the latest indications from NORAD about the fast mover's position. I could land the craft away from it to prevent us from getting detected."

"Roger that Captain". He then tried to get some sleep. 

Some hours afterwards they closed nearby the UFO's position. The Sun was beginning to come up, which was good for the attack, although the heavy cloud cover limited its light. That is, if the aliens were affected by the same sleep patterns than most animals on Earth, including humans, they would be either tired at this hour of the morning or starting to wake up, with their attention lower than usual. The Skyranger landed in the middle of a tundra field, the exhaust from its jet engines throwing snow and rocks everything and blasting the sparse vegetation. It had been attached with ice skates instead of wheels, one of the advantages of it being built and designed by Russians. 

The three squads quickly exited the plane, taking cover on the nearby snow elevations and looking for possible hostiles that might be in the area. Once the all clear had been given for the landing zone, Johnson and King exited the craft and joined the other men. The dark haired sniper looked nervous as if being out in the open was an unnatural condition to him.

Without a word being spoken, the assembled on a line and started moving towards their target, with Kowalsky being assigned point. The short man just acknowledged the order and started moving.

After they had walked some distance Kowalsky suddenly made the all stop sign and squat down, with everyone following his warning after advancing. Johnson and Forrester moved up to see what had come up. Moving through the line of his men as they took cover on the available nearby snow and ice mounts, he reached the trooper's position. Kowalsky was lying down and as he saw his commander's arrival, he pointed to a direction in front while making afterwards the sign for hostiles. Johnson crawled on the ground until he could get a better look. 

Some two hundreds yards away the alien ship could be seen, laying on the ground. It was an unrecorded type. It was bigger than anything they had ever raided and its shape, while remembering the classic saucer, had sections that came out of it, remembering petals of a flower. And an alien was standing between them and the UFO, assuming a sentinel position with its Elerium rifle. It was patrolling the area, moving around with an almost choreographed rhythm and scanning through its dark eyes, but it had failed so far to detect the X-Com's troopers. And the dumb idiot was standing directly between them and the craft. He signalled Kowalsky to stay put and motioned the rest of the team to deploy. The plan called for the team to circle the UFO and detect all aliens that were standing outside to take them all out at the same time. That was the easy part. The hardest would be afterwards the assault on the UFO itself. Moving slowly, Alpha, Beta and Gamma squads circled the craft, while Jones moved closed to him and stayed put, keeping a close look at the alien guard. Johnson wondered how it could be just standing there in the middle of the cold wind that was blasting through the landscape. The snow had stopped to fall but the sky was still heavy on clouds. He trailed Gamma as they moved over the right side of the craft. Thedoor was visible, with two other Sectoids guarding it. Looking over he also saw that Alpha was guarding the opposite end from where they had arrived and were placing themselves into position. Beta was out of sight, but he trusted that they had already assumed their places on the left side. They would be responsible for taking down any stragglers that were far away and would race back to the craft after the shooting started. His radio came active with a single click, followed by two others. Alpha had detected two aliens and was ready to take them out. Two other clicks cracked on the channel, followed by the same number of sounds and finally three clicks come up, followed by a single one. Counting the one King was keeping under his sights, that made six aliens outside, Johnson thought. How many more inside? He pointed his own laser rifle at the nearest alien. Then he talked to his microphone a single word: "Go!"

All the men from the team that had been assigned laser rifles fired them one second later at their targets. Since the weapons were almost soundless it had been decided to use them instead of the cannons to avoid making any noise. The laser beams travelled at the speed of light towards their targets. All the aliens outside the UFO died the next instant, their grey bodies cut down by the invisible beams. 

"Gamma go! Alpha cover the door!" Johnson shouted while looking around for any possible aliens that might be on their way back to the ship. 

The second Corporal Pershing heard the Colonel's voice he got up and started running Behind him, Rodriguez and Jones were a bit slower to respond to the order, the same with Jerrell, the new Lieutenant in command of the squad. He knew that they would eventually pick up on him, but for now his reactions had the upper hand. Carrying his Russian heavy cannon was no big feature for him. He weighted almost two hundreds pounds, the mass sculpted into a tall figure of straight muscle. As he was close to the craft, the door suddenly opened and a Sectoid moved out, searching for the fate of his now dead companions. Pershing didn't even bother to respond. A second, later laser beams from the other squad cut down the alien, his body instantly dropping on the ground and keeping the door opened. Pershing reached it and took a look, trailing his gun at the same time. An entry room greeted him, with a door on the other end. Jones reached him and he said: "Go!" while kicking the alien corpse out of the way. The trooper quickly moved and reached the door on the other side. The rest of his squad arrived and he and Jones then moved closer to the other door, the other Gamma members covering it with their laser rifles.

When both X-Com's troopers arrived they took position on both sides of the door and Jones them moved his hand to open it. The alien device detected the motion and moved the metal surface up. Two rounds of automatic laser fire from the soldiers on the back followed into the room and Pershing and Jones then pointed their own weapons.

A dead alien laid on the floor with their back pointed at him hit by the laser salvo in several locations. The room reminded Pershing of some kind of hospital room, he thought, as he noticed the two tables on both sides with what looked like surgical instruments on the tops and a table at the middle, where the dead alien now laid in front of. And a patient. A human one. And another life form present in the room.

Jones fired first, but the three laser bursts that come out of his weapon all missed, hitting the walls and the table where the alien was close to. The Sectoid tried to take cover but while turning hit the table and the collision took out his balance, making him fell to the ground. Pershing pressed the finger on his trigger but a second afterward a new feeling come up to him. He moved up to the alien, who was trying to get up, raised his weapon and clubbed the alien on the head with the stock. The Sectoid immediately dropped to the ground again, but this time it stayed there, motionless. Payback time, you bastard. 

Meanwhile the rest of the squad had just entered that room, covering another door that was on the other side. Pershing saw that the Lieutenant was giving him a hard look, but he decided to tell to him to shove later if he brought the subject up. He assumed his position and, a second later, a trooper opened the door. This time the laser salvo failed to hit anyone and Rodriguez took a look. He told Pershing to cover the left side and dashed afterwards to the left side, the Corporal following him across the door. The room lead into a corridor that whose walls were bare but showed the geometrical inside of the flower like design of the UFO. He looked on front and saw that it ended with a turn to the left and he continued walking, taking a close look at the corner. A plasma round was suddenly heard, followed but the hum of a laser rifle in operation. The thump on the ground heard afterwards reassured him that his buddies still had the upper hand on that side. When he reached he took a quick look at the continuation. It led to a dead end, with two cylinders found like the ones inside the smaller UFOs attached to the right side and giving an orange light. Looking closer he saw that there looked to be an opening on the ceiling, leading to another door with an orange light coming out of it and lightening the floor underneath the opening with a strange red. 

When Rodriguez joined them both men started approaching carefully the light. He clicked on his radio. "Lt. I got an opening here on the ceiling". The lieutenant voice replied. "Cover it and hold. Will be joined you in two seconds. Dead end here".

When all men of Gamma squad were joined they approached the opening with great care. Pershing looked to the Lieutenant and got the okay from his look. He moved directly underneath the light and looked up. Nothing. He took out his combat glove and tried to see if the light had some effect on the air. As he suddenly moved his arm upwards he felt himself going up, moved by some invisible force. His first reaction was to try to escape from it, but the velocity of his ascent prevented him from having the time to step out of the lift.

He met himself on the upper floor of the craft, directly over the opening, with the same invisible force preventing him from falling down. In a brief moment of panic he looked around. His eyes caught a corridor on his front that seemed to have no end. And on his left there was another corridor. And a figure had just stepped into it. Pershing threw himself to the empty corridor, the green bolts going through the same position that his body had just left. As he hit the ground he concentrated on holding his gun near him and getting a grenade out of his belt. He took the cap out and pressed the trigger, rigging it with a threesecond delay. He then stretched his arm and threw it afterwards in the direction of the alien. A squeak was heard afterwards, followed but an explosion. The other members of Gamma figured out the lift and started it, joining him on the upper floor. He saw them move in front of him as he got up his feet and then followed them. 

Johnson's radio cracked: "Forrester here. We have secured the UFO. Gamma met some tough resistance on the upper floor, but have no casualties, besides some minor burns. And we have rescued an abductee"

"Say that again, Alpha?"

"The aliens apparently abducted a worker in the BDMWS facility. He was extremely lucky not to get hit by our own weapons in the shootout, with an alien taking a lot of shots that would have hit him instead"

"How is he?"

"Shaken, but stable. We are getting him some clothes and are giving him the US military team story, but not saying a word about the aliens. Speaking of which, we have captured a prisoner of war"

"A live alien?"

"It has a bruise on his head the size of a shoe, thanks to Pershing's hitting him with the butt of his heavy cannon, but he's still alive"

"Restrain him. Any reports of mental interference?"

"Negative. Gamma's boys say they felt something weird on their minds when they were storming the upper floor, but it ended shortly afterwards when they got the last alien"

"Have a guard close to the alien and have all men on sight of the guard. The moment the guard sees any of them point the gun at one another he is to kill the alien instantly" Forrester voice replied: "Roger".

Johnson suddenly detected a presence on his left side and he dropped to his knees while turning and pointing his laser rifle at the figure. His training prevented him from squeezing the trigger as he saw a human figure dressed in cold weather clothes looking directly at him. The individual froze on his tracks when he noticed Johnson and a second later hid himself behind one of the snow elevations that had formed over high spots on the cold terrain. Johnson released the pressure on his trigger and shouted:

"Sir, this is the US military. This is an quarantined area, please leave this second". He tried to spot the figure, looking at the direction to where it had moved. Five seconds passed and no answer came.

"Sir, have you heard me? Please show yourself". Johnson started moving into that direction. Great, just what I need, a frightened civilian. This one will take some time to convince that this was just a military exercise, he thought. He ran towards the elevation, climbing over it to get a better picture of where he was. When he reached the top he saw that the men was almost reaching the other elevation, turning back to check on him and regaining his pace afterwards. They had been running for minutes now and Johnson wondered about the physical abilities of the man. If not for his own combat training it would be nearly impossible to catch up with him. He kept running as fast as he could and activated his radio to talk to Tyrell.

"Tyrell, a civilian is going on your way from the southeast, some two hundred years from your position. I'm after him. Detain him"

"Roger that, Colonel"

He kept running across the ice and snowfield, catching occasional glimpses of the man as he moved between the elevations, unknowingly going on the way of the Skyranger. As he circulated the final ice boulder, he heard an alien weapon shot. He first considered that one of the Sectoids had been away outside the craft and was now returning, alerted by the previous gunfire. Suddenly all those thoughts stopped. 

Tyrell was lying on the ground bleeding profusely of his abdomen, tainting the white landscape with the crimson red. He wasn't moving. The figure had stopped and was turned into Tyrell's direction. He heard Johnson's muffled steps in the snow and turned. Johnson stop on his tracks, mesmerized by the eyes that faced him. The figure in front of him was human in appearance and was wearing human clothes, with a protective mask worn to protect against the snow and the minus temperatures that were being felt. His snow goggles were up on his forehead revealing the only part of his face that wasn't covered, which was his eyes. Human and expressing fear. But with a violet colour. And a cat like pupil. 

The Colonel become petrified, his brain unable for a few seconds to respond to the vision that was now concentrating on him, pointing the Elerium pistol it had on his hand to Johnson's direction. 

A blast was shot and suddenly Johnson was projected back, but as he was hitting the ground his training clicked and he moved in the air to soften the effects of the fall and prepare to respond to the threat. As he landed on the snow he was already turning to lay down on his ground and point his weapon at the man. But the cringing pain that come from his chest disabled him to point and fire as he saw the figure start running away again. He looked down at his chest that was pinning his weapon arm to the ground and saw that it was littered with small holes, with blood coming out of them. The armour had worked to prevent him from getting killed from the alien blast, but barely. If he had taken such hit on the back or head he probably wouldn't be alive anymore. Seeing that the man was getting further away he laid on his back and used his free hand to key his microphone.

"Johnson here. I need some assistance. There's still a hostile in the area and he almost got me". Hopkins immediately acknowledged the order. As he waited for his men to arrive he got his medical pack off his emergency medical pack off his belt and started to stop the bleeding. While taking care of himself he started thinking about this new apparition and how hell was getting loose again. 

March 11th, 1999

Las Vegas International Airport, Nevada, US

Eva Johannes didn't even noticed the 747 hitting on the tarmac during its landing. She was used to getting sleep wherever possible, thanks to long nights of study and assignments at college and she only woke up when the passenger next to her bumped into her leg on the way out. She looked around and saw that almost all of the passengers of the flight had already gotten up and were waiting to leave the craft. Until a recent time such travels made by X-Com personnel were made using planes available to the force, but budget and operational constrains had limited their availability. So she had to take a commercial flight from Frankfurt to New York, and then another to Las Vegas were she would be picked up by a ride from Area 51. She checked her watch and it marked four o'clock in the afternoon. No, wait, eight hours less here, so it should be around eight in the morning. And a pretty damn jet lag to go with it, she noticed as she also got up and collected her jacket from the storage compartment on top of her seat. 

The recent capture of a live alien by the Area 51 team had risen quite a stir on the scientific community of X-Com. While most of the research involving extraterrestrial biological entities were made at the American base, she had petitioned to be present in the interrogations that were being conducted on the creature, in hope to understand more of the Elerium physics. And she also wanted to take a look at the equipment captured in the larger UFO, hoping that it might bring light into its propulsion system. She also would liaison with the scientists at the American facility to try to coordinate better the research efforts. 

The basic qualities of Elerium had by now been determined. Apparently the extraterrestrial element possessed the ability of turning itself into antimatter when bombarded with accelerated particles. The initial tests had shown it to contain more energy on his mass than plutonium, without possessing the radioactive qualities of the former. But it still gave them no clue of how it was used to power the alien's weapons and UFO propulsion systems. Theoretically it was possible to use it for military purposes, placing a small quantity on top of a missile together with an accelerator programmed to hit it with particles when the rocket reached its target. But the scientific staff had decided to discard the idea, also because of the implications it would have if a terrorist or a dictator got a piece of the material and also how to use it. 

When she left the plane she proceeded to the luggage retrieval area where she got her bags. She wasn't allowed to take with her any of her notes because of security so her stuff was minimal. As she got all of the cases two police officers came up to her. One of them was huge and had blonde hair while the other was the exact opposite, short and dark haired. The smaller one opened his mouth to speak to her, while the other one kept a watch on everyone near them. 

"Excuse me madam, is your name Eva Johannes?" His look was emotionless. Looking at him, she noticed there was something strange about the uniformed man in front of her.

"Ja, I mean yes. Why?"

"Can I see your identification please?" She handed him her German passport which he looked briefly before giving it back to her.

"Is there a problem?"

"I am afraid so madam. Please come with us"

"Why? Where are we going?"

"Madam, please, this is only temporary and will be quickly explained. There's nothing to worry about. My partner will take your bags"

She looked at both of them and realized that resistance would be futile. "Very well, let's get this over with". They both placed themselves on her side and the three of them headed for a door that had a Restricted Area sign. Going through it, they guided her through a maze of corridors and rooms, without saying anything, until they finally went through a door leading to a parking lot where a black sedan with darkened windows was parked. The taller one opened the rear door and motioned her to enter, which she did. A man dressed in a civilian suit was inside and after she sat down and the door was closed he gave her a device that looked like a pair of binoculars. "Please look through this" 

"What is going on?"

"Please look. I won't ask again" He produced a pistol from an armpit holster and pointed it at her. She took the strange device and looked. Only darkness greeted her eyes. "I see nothing".

"There's a button on the right side. Press it". She did and her eyes saw a brief flash that left her blind for some seconds making her drop the device. The man picked it and looked at it. He then let go a sigh of relief and put away his pistol.

"Captain Forrester, West North American X-Com Command. Welcome to Nevada Miss Johannes"

She took his hand and gave it a small shake. "What was that all about Captain?"

"I'm sorry about the deception. It is a part of the security measures we have installed for all X-Com personnel. We needed to be sure you were who claimed to be and this machine right here just did a retinal scan to check for your identity. You passed". He pointed at the front of the car. "Those two policeman seated in the front are, in fact, Corporal Pershing and Trooper Kowalsky, also of the team based at Area 51". 

"A full security detachment just for me? What is going on here?"

"Let's just say we don't want any guest to be harmed, Dr. Johannes. I'm sorry but I can't say anymore and we should get in our way". 

"Very well". The driver started the car and made it roll, heading for the highway. 

On the other side of the parking lot, Evan Blake came out from behind a trash canister and saw the limousine drive away. Now what was that all about, he thought? As he was waiting to pick his luggage upon arriving at Las Vegas, his boss consenting to the trip after he had proven to him that the footage was authentic, he had noticed the two policemen the moment they had entered the area. He saw them approaching a blonde woman and talking to her. But their actions were strange. First, one of them was more interested in the people around them, as if they were looking for threats. And both of them looked more like military people the way the walked and acted. When all of them left through an exit restricted to airport personnel, he knew something was up. He grabbed his bag and looked for the farthest parking lot, running as fast as he could. His instinct was right it seemed. It could even be that Colonel Johnson was inside the car, but he didn't managed to look inside. "Well, I will see ya at Area 51, count on it", he said, before heading out back to the terminal to get a taxi. 

On the other end of the terminal, an eye stopped looking through a magnification lenses and put the camera down as Blake turned away. The person then placed all his material on a travel bag and headed out to another parking lot. 

Area 51, Nevada, US

Williams had followed Johnson to the storage area where they had talked before. The Colonel didn't said what he wanted to discuss, but he could guess that it should be serious, according to the man's expression. 

When they reached the room, Johnson closed the door and locked it. Afterwards he produced a small device from his pocket and turned it on.

"Anti-listening device. I asked Dr. Mantell to come up with one, so that we could assure that our conversations remain private"

"You could have asked me for one of those. The scientific personnel back at the Agency has devised a lot of them, I'm sure"

"Yes, but what I wonder is what else they have conceived" His voice took a sombre tone. 

"Colonel, I'm supposed to be the devious person here. Please keep that role up to me and say what's on your mind"

"You heard about the Alaska assault?"

"Yes and let me congratulate you for your exit in stopping the alien's actions. I'm sorry for your wounds"

"Well, you are the second person to know, besides Commander Illyuschenko. They weren't made by the aliens but by a human using one of their weapons."

"One of your men being mind controlled?"

"No. Someone who was approaching the UFO at the time of the assault, unaware of our presence. Who was carrying one of their weapons".

"A human working for the aliens as an operative?"

"You tell me. What I want to know is how did they got anyone helping them, besides that mind control thing. He wasn't under their influence, since we had killed all the aliens by the time he arrived at the scene, which means that he was about to meet them and had a gun with him, which means that he didn't fully trust them"

Williams thought of his own conclusions about the conspirators but he refrained from saying a thing.

"There are things you don't need to know Colonel and that could endanger your life if you did"

"Let me tell you what's endangering my life! What is jeoparding this whole operation is the amount of secrets you intelligence people keep to yourselves! Did you knew about this already?!" Williams took a step back. The Colonel looked as if he was about to strangle him. 

"Colonel Johnson, all the indications I have so far would point that such collaborators would remain hidden to preserve their identities. You meeting with him was an unlucky coincidence"

"Tell that to Tyrell, the pilot who got killed! And I got one last thing for you to know about that human. He had the stature of an ordinary man but his eyes where alien like. I don't know what that means, but somebody must be playing Dr. Frankenstein up there on the stars!" Or down here on Earth, Williams concluded.

"Very well, Colonel. I trust that you haven't said that to anyone else?"

"You bet I didn't. The story is that the alien who hit me ran away and died in the middle of the snow storm that hit the place hours later. But from this day on, my men have orders to keep their guard up even when there's only humans around".

"Most likely you won't have another incident like that again Colonel. But please do take all necessary precautions. And you have my word. When I can talk about it you will be fully briefed. But for now some information has to be contained or the danger of it coming out to the open would be much bigger"

"You bet you will tell me. 'Cause if you don't, I will personally give you to the aliens for them to make experiments on you Mr. Williams". He wasn't joking.

On the other side of the base, Eva Johannes had just finished her early lunch on the base mess hall, escorted by Dr. Mantell. They had discussed several aspects of the research that was being done on alien technology over the meal and as they were leaving the room she noticed a paper sheet posted near the door announcing today's film session.

"The Day The Earth Stood Still? What film is that, Dr?" Dr. Mantell let go of a short laugh and said: 

"Well, some of the troops decided to start playing films using the base projection room. We are not allowed to go to the nearest town so sometimes life here can be boring. But they decided that they needed stuff about their job to motivate them, so they bought a lot of scientific fiction movies, with the plot of all of them being extraterrestrials"

"You mean movies like that one I saw in my childhood, what was his name, ET?"

"Actually no, although I would have liked to see it again. That one and Close Encounters of the Third Kind are actually censored and banned, due to, as Sergeant Hopkins put it, 'being alien propaganda to take away our will to fight them'. No, last week it was Independence Day, this one is a classic from the 50's"

"You Americans are crazy"

"Why, just because we here believe in aliens?" Dr. Mantell smiled. He was much different from her superior back at Mother One, she thought.

"Speaking of which, when can I see him? Or is it a her?"

"It's an it actually. They are asexual, although we have found some biological traces of sexual organs in some of the bodies."

"Well, I think there's an interrogation session going on at the minute. You could assist it if you wanted"

"I would like that"

"Very well, but prepare yourself". He led her outside of a mess hall and through a series of scientific laboratories where she saw other scientists going over pieces of strange alien equipment, some of it combined with more Earth like materials. She greeted them, but few of them bothered to answer back, which she understood. It also happened to her to find time a rare commodity lately.

They finally reached a door and the doctor punched in a code on the numeric keypad outside it. The sign on the door was quite explicit: "WARNING: BIOLOGICAL HAZARD. DO NOT ENTER WITHOUT FULL AUTHORIZATION". When they crossed she saw that the entrance was guarded on the inside by two X-Com troopers, both carrying M4 automatic rifles and wearing full body armour. They didn't pay any attention to her. On the room there were two military men together with a collection of scientists and civilian personnel. She looked carefully at the neck collar of the officers. The closest one had an insignia there with three circles with an X on the middle of them, which made him a Captain. The other one wore what she called the tentacular X insignia, the same worn by Colonel MacTaggert at Mother One. That made him Colonel Johnson.

They were all seated on chairs, looking at a big glass window that occupied an entire wall of the room. When she turned her head on that direction she saw what they were looking at and she felt a need to vomit. She barely constrained herself while looking at the alien. It was sitting on a chair in the middle of a room that contained only a table and a bed. A civilian and a military man were also together with the alien, trying to communicate with him through the use of a computer that was built into one of the walls, but having no success for it simply made no reaction. She turned to Doctor Mantell. 

"Can he understand English?"

"We simply don't know. They must be able to understand our languages but that skill could be restricted to only some of them. In any case we doubt it would be able to replicate human sounds. Right now we are trying to use mathematics but it still won't respond. We don't know if it's because it simply doesn't understand or if it refuses to communicate".

The alien turned his head and looked at the one way window. Although Eva knew he couldn't see it, she felt that it was sensing the presence of all the people on the subjacent room.

"He somehow knows that we are here watching him. They must be able to detect thoughts even though this specimen right here doesn't have the ability to mind control like we have detected on some of the others". The Colonel noticed their presence and made an interrogating look. Mantell lead Johannes closer to him and made the proper presentations. 

"This alien seems to be giving you a hard time Colonel, how can we communicate with it?"

"You don't want to know, Miss Johannes" His voice turned cold and professional. 

"What do you mean?"

"I just got orders from Commander Illyuschenko telling me to use every possible mean to extract information from the alien that doesn't endanger his life. That's why some of this civilians are here"

"What?!"

"They show no mercy to us, Doctor. And we need for it to start speaking as soon as possible for us to learn more about them before it's too late"

"That's barbaric!"

"Your work is very important Doctor in the fight against the aliens. And the nature of it shields you from being in the frontline and seeing their atrocities. Believe me, if you had seen what I did, you would want to kill them yourself personally".

"The ends don't justify the means, Colonel!"

"Moral is a curious and weird concept, Doctor, even for humans. While it has kept some of us from killing our neighbour, the aliens just ignore them. And why shouldn't they? We are no better than cattle for them. And one thing I learned is that if you want to win you have to be as vicious as your enemy or he will ever have an psychological advantage over you". 

"And what if you had to kill a human instead Colonel?" She started clenching her hands.

"I have had, madam. And believe me, with them I can feel remorse. With the thing over there, there's nothing to be sorry for".

"Well thinking like that could just be the reason why we are on this mess!" Her heart racing, she ignored the looks of everyone else in the room and left it through the door, furious at the Colonel. Even the alien seemed to sense some emotional distress in the hidden room next to him and he turned his head towards the direction of the door.

Mantell turned to go after her, but Johnson stopped him grabbing his arm. "This is between me and her Doctor, and I prefer to resolve such matters myself, if you please". The scientist relaxed and stepped away, nodding. Johnson headed out for the door. Picking up his pace, he eventually found her in the mess hall. The soldiers that were starting to have lunch looked at both of them, in curiosity. She still was breathing heavily while turning to him and saying: "I'm sorry for my reaction back there Colonel, but I still object against the prospect of using torture in another life form".

"Doctor…Johannes, isn't it?" She nodded. "Apologies accepted. An I wish to assure you that we won't resort to physical torture unless we really have to. We will first try other softer means"

"I don't want to know, Colonel. Do your job. I will do mine. If you excuse me". Sheturned her back on him and left, towards the scientific area. Johnson scratched is headin hopelessness, looked at this watch and headed out through one of the corridors into the direction of his office. King, Jones and Garcia watched him leave and then went back to eating their meal. After a second Jones said, almost casually:

"Looks like the CO might get lucky".

"Can it Jones. Nothing of our business and you're getting the wrong picture as usual". King kept his voice low and continued eating, disregarding the comments of the Afro-American trooper. 

"Man, nothing of our business you say? We've been on a one-gender base for months were women are harder to find than UFOs and the Colonel already tries to score on the first lady that I ever saw here? Even when I was back on Special Forces we would see women and occasionally they would even wear a uniform! Officer's privilege, my ass!"

"The Colonel is OK. Even the big man needs to relieve himself once in a while". Garcia kept putting huge doses of the daily chow into his mouth while making the comment, having trouble saying some of the words. 

King raised his head and said: "Well, welcome to X-Com, troopers! Against aliens, under budgets and sexual abstinence we fight" Jones just dismissed him with a wave of his hand. Garcia also stopped eating and smiling from one ear to the other added: "maybe we should get hombre Jones a date with the critter that they have locked on C Section".

"You mean, like those looneys they show occasionally on the night news making rallies to show their welcome for the extraterrestrial brothers and ask them to show themselves to Earth? Man, is that was those meetings are all about? They have a hard-on and want to have galactic intercourse?"

Both him and King by then couldn't control their laughing anymore and the remaining trooper annoyed and deciding to go over his lunch with his mouth shut. 

Mother One, Black Forest, Germany

Once again, Illyuschenko felt the need to shoot the face that was in front of him. The rat faced man acted exactly like a weasel and talked like one also. The General Secretary had told him about the atmosphere in the latest meetings of the Council of Funding Nations and now the rumours were on plain sight.

"Councilman Likov, I don't need to tell you how disastrous our country's decision is! Cut back funding for X-Com is an error at this point!"

The damn politician took a deep breath, taking the posture of a schoolmaster that was putting the student in place and giving a lecture.

"Commander, the Charter allows us to change our funding, based on the general performance of X-Com every month. And we are most displeased for the results the Russian team has shown in these months, therefore our decision is final. Unless there are some changes in overall performance, we will cut back on our funding at the end of this month."

"But if you reduce it, then it will be much harder for the teams to hunt the UFOs, you idiot! We need the funds to build the second Russian base! And to buy the planes necessary to equip it!" Illyuschenko was making a huge effort not to raise his hands from where their rested on the chair's arms and smack the monitor in front of him. 

"Then I suggest you pay more attention to the needs of your country, Commander! You have denied everyone of our requests! And other nations are having more success, even smaller ones than us, humiliating our country!"

"Don't blame me for the politicians having messed around Russia for decades Mr. Likov! Those nations have resources that we once possessed and their military cooperate more than ours!"

"Your X-Com troopers have no respect for the chain of command! They refuse to follow the orders of Red Army officials that are superior from them! And you refuse to allow them access to a military installation in our own country!"

At least I'm not the only one angry here now, Illyuschenko thought. "Mr. Councilman, they are not a part of Russia's military forces anymore. And they receive their orders just from one person and that's me! And under the Charter the bases are UN territory that can be entered only under the authorization of the commander of the installation!" This is pointless, he thought. The bastard won't even try to cooperate. Looking at his watch while Likov was firing another round of accusations he saw that he was already late for his other meeting. He cut through the angry speech the man was firing.

"Mr. Likov I need to tend to other matters now, but be sure that this ain't over! Good afternoon sir!". Moving his hand towards the communications terminal he reached a button on the side of the screen and touched it, ignoring the weasel's words to remain on the channel. The image was suddenly replaced by the red X on a white circle, both standing in the middle of a blue background. He pressed another button and a light blue flag with a representation of Earth on white traces suddenly raised itself and disappeared on a box close to the roof. An electronic wall suddenly appeared, showing Earth in three dimensions. Moving with the controls built into his arm chair, he made it rotate. It received all information available from radar sites on the ground and satellites. Most of the globe, like the Pacific and the Poles had a grey tone into it remembering that there were no assets monitoring the area for UFO activity.He sometimes monitored interceptions from here but now it was going to be used for a war council. Moving the pointer with a small joystick he clicked on a menu and chose the Communications button. Another submenu replaced the other one on the screen and he chose another icon. Immediately the image of Earth started to turn and afterwards it centred and zoomed on Japan. A blue square icon appeared together with the words "Complex YY-18". A window popped up and suddenly Colonel Yamashita's face commander of the Far East team appeared. His face had cuts on it that hadn't completely healed and Illyuschenko wondered if the man had taken into sword training for his team. Looking another window that had come up over China he saw the now Lieutenant Colonel Chen staring at him. He seemed most displeased and the leader of X-Com decided that it must still have to do with the FE command being led by Yamashita, and putting the still almost inexistent Chinese team taking orders from a Japanese. That would probably change, he thought, at the next Council meeting since Japan was also being fed up of dealing with the Chinese, accusing them of stepping on their way constantly. 

Another square and a word this time in another continent: "Depot S-4". It had been built in the middle of Kenya and it was being used for storage of many of the alien artefacts. Colonel Waartens, a South African was in charge of it, although he hated what he called "caretaker duty" and was constantly requesting resources to allow him to start performing interceptions and ground attacks. That was even a weirder mix, Illyuschenko thought, considering that there were also Egyptians and Nigerians on the team, all led by an full blood Afrikaner. At least he didn't show any signs of believing in apartheid.

The computer continued connecting to the different bases and when all field commanders were online, Illyuschenko spoke "Hello again, gentlemen. To be short, I've just had a word with my country's councilman. Together with China, Australia and Nigeria, they will also be cutting their contributions in the next monthly budget if we don't improve at their eyes". He went to everyone of them with his eyes, looking for reactions.

"My government was highly impressed with the Alaskan operation, sir. They most likely will increase their contribution"

"Yes, Colonel Johnson. But, unfortunately it probably won't be enough to cover the money we will loose. Worse still, base maintenance is really eating into our budget now, which will limit our ability to equip more bases and expand our area of operations and also to replace lost equipment"

"What about the bloody UN? Can' the Secretary General give us more fund?" The Scottish accent of MacTaggert made it hard to be understood.

"They would if they could, but they are even in a tighter situation than us".

"Can't we just borrow money then? This is insane! We are fighting to defend Earth and we still have to do it with a low budget?!" Colonel Jackson seemed distressed, to the point of moving his hands a lot.

"Jackson," Johnson cut in, "we are not a 'legal' organization. We officially don't exist and I doubt any bank on Earth would give the funding we need unless it had some guarantee about us. We can't just mortgage our bases and get our Skyrangers through a lease system"

"Furthermore, we can't reveal our existence, under the penalty of being hunt down by the aliens and civilization breaking into a chaos. No, we need another answer here". But which one, Illyuschenko thought. Finding no sudden answer, he turned to soften the problem as much as he could.

"All base construction will have to be halved by now. But we will continue with the expansion and re-equipment of the teams. And we will have to cut into scientific investigation also. Dr. Chevereux won't be pleased, but right now we need more bullets than lab rats fiddling with toys. We are better armed and protected right now and the latest encounters have shown us that we have closed the technological gap between us and the aliens on the ground. And that's where this war will be won".

_André Galvão, 2001_


	8. Revival

X-Com - The Unknown Menace

Chapter Seven – Revival

March 17th, 1999

CIA Headquarters, Langley, Virginia, US

It was almost amazing to see that the Sectoid constrained to the chair had at least one feeling in common with humans. Pain. The restrained alien's eyes and whatever few muscles it had on his face showed tension and stress from time to time under the effects of whatever the unseen men on the room were doing to him. The cameraman had shot the interrogation well, Williams thought, at least he was sparing the audience the view of whatever tortures the CIA questioners were inflicting on the alien. 

An unseen human voice kept asking the same questions, making it sounds like a mantra. In English, then in French, German, Chinese, Russian, Spanish and every major language that existed on the planet. Think of the Babel Tower that would connect men to the skies, what a coincidence.  

The horrific spectacle lasted for a ten more seconds until finally, the alien opened his mouth and tried to speak. It had actually taken many hours of such equal treatment, Williams considered, but there was no point to see it all and there were other more important things to discuss. He was then moved by faceless figures next to a monitor and a keyboard and his arm was set free. The human voice asked merciless:

"Do you understand English?" The Sectoid looked at the keyboard and, after some moments of hesitation, punched a few keys. The answer appeared white in the black screen: YES.

"Who are you?" THE STARSPAWN.

"What is the star spawn?" ALL THE LIVING BEINGS COMBINED TOGETHER BY THE WILL. 

"And what is that will?" THE WILL THAT RULES US, THAT WILL ALSO MAKE YOU A PART OF US. 

"Are you here to dominate Earth?" YES THE THIRD PLANET FROM THE SYSTEM YOU CALL SOL IS OURS.

Even though Williams had already seen the video, he still felt a chill down his spine whenever this part come up. And the rest of the assessment team that were watching the projection also went cold, suddenly realizing that Armageddon was more closer than they ever could have imagined. The interrogator's confusion was apparent as he tried to remember another question. He tried another line of approach:

 "What is your species? Who do you call yourselves?" WE ARE THE HIERARCHY WE ARE THE STARSPAWN THAT IS OUR NAME.  You are a fine mess we have on our hands, Williams thought as the rest of the interrogation went on until the recording finished. The lights went back up and a graveyard silence stepped into the room. There were no more doubts, only one certain: Mankind faced extinction, slavery or something worse. 

"Let's start by going through the resume of all the information the two-day non-stop interrogation took".

"Are they still questioning him?" MacAllister asked, afraid about what other horrors might come out.

"He died during interrogation. From what the scientific staff could determine during the autopsy, the reason was fatigue".

"Jesus!" MacAllister coughed, or pretended to, taking his hand to his mouth at the same time to hide the shock.

"They didn't want to risk that it wouldn't be cooperative next time, so they took multiple rechecks of its answers". That still made Williams sick every time he thought about it. Pretty soon, we might be getting back to barbarism because of the aliens. "It was necessary". Yes, but was it justifiable? "In any case, we now know that this Hierarchy, as these Sectoids call themselves are part of a larger invasion force designed as the 'Starspawn'".

"How do the other aliens fit into that picture?" For the first time on the meetings, Williams could see Parker actually showing any kind of interest on the subjects being discussed.

"Apparently the Sectoids and the other race thus far discovered on Earth, the so-called 'Floaters' are working in common under this 'Starspawn'. Whatever the term exactly means is completely unknown". 

"An alliance or coalition of extraterrestrial races?" MacAllister volunteered. 

"Or that the Sectoids, or some other species, have defeated and put into submission the other extraterrestrials. The autopsies of the Floaters shown that they have been massively changed by genetic engineering and surgery. Their ability to hover in the air comes actually from a cybernetic implant". Interesting, Williams thought while assessing the possibility thrown by Parker. 

"Which would also explain the tone used by the Sectoid on his replies to our queries regarding the Floaters. Although it is an error assigning human emotions to the aliens, the interrogators' conclusions pointed to the fact that he sees them as inferior life-forms, the same way as he sometimes talked about humans, displaying what seemed like contempt". 

"A possibility to exploit, perhaps, the existence of power relations between the aliens?" Parker suddenly turned into a Machiavellian tone, but more jokingly as if it was a rhetorical question. 

"If we ever come up with a plan that would assure success. But it's doubtful that the Floaters could see us as allies and that they would even risk going against their masters. We are nothing more than an insect to be crushed in order for them to achieve their goals. Why would you change sides into the weaker part?" Why would the conspirators care about humanity if they had achieved an agreement with the aliens that would guarantee their survival on an alien dominated Earth, Williams concluded for himself. He continued with his briefing. 

"The information he gave about his home star allowed NASA to identify it as Zeta Reticuli, a double-star system situated on the Orion Constellation. That doesn't tell us much, but he also mentioned the Hierarchy's motives behind the invasion: to improve their structured society. And through the development of hybrids between them and the human species". Another gasp filled the room. "Wait, there's more. Apparently they are organized like a hive, with Soldiers and Workers being the lower castes, then up to the leadership. Which the alien confirmed that possess psionic powers capable of controlling or demoralizing humans. They are also behind the cattle slaughtering and the human abductions, realized for the purpose of obtaining nutrients and genetic materials for cross-breeding of the species and also to make clones capable of infiltrating human society". All men in the room stood on shock. Williams knew that he needed to get them working. They would all have to find ways to deal with the terrible truth that they had just learned. He had to live with an even bigger burden. At least the interrogation had confirmed many of his assumptions so far. Colonel Johnson had undoubtedly met with a hybrid during the Alaska raid. But what he wouldn't know was that probably the hybrid might be working with the conspirators.

"What about the composition of their forces? Their tactical plans? He didn't mention anything about it?" MacAllister seemed almost desperate. 

"He was just a drone, one of their lower castes, what we would call a basic infantry soldier. Why would he know? And they can be not telling their lower ranks what their real plans are, in order to keep them a secret from us". Parker countered. "We need to check this information with data coming from other methods. And we need to capture one of their higher castes to know more about their plans".

"Also, one thing that can be assumed from their answers is that they must have a base on our solar system, since it can be assumed that it would be nearly impossible to control such an operation from that far, even with their technological resources. From the numbers of UFOs we have been tracking over Earth's atmosphere this isn't a limited operation. They must have huge amounts of resources, probably of entire planets and solar systems". More bad news on the way. "The logical conclusion is that we can't stop them military. We need to find out more about them, otherwise it would be like trying to stop the sea with a sand castle."

"Can't NASA use their resources to find the alien base?" Williams already knew the answers for that query. "No. It's like looking for a needle on a haystack. The solar system might be small, when compared to the galaxy, but there's still a lot of space for them to be hidden. And even if we found it we probably couldn't do anything about it. We couldn't just arm and launch a Shuttle against it". More consternation fell into the room.

 "However there are other pressing matters that we need to act upon. As we had predicted gentlemen, alien infiltration is a serious risk in our societies and might even be spreading through other ways that we had never imagined". He pressed a button on the video remote control and the machine started playing the tape again.

This time the recording was of a live news clip. The recording of one of the major networks showed a manifestation being held next to Congress of several hundred people holding banners and shouting words. The female reporter on the scene was interviewing one of the protesters, a bearded male that had a huge sign where a Sectoid's head, painted in black with almond shaped eyes could be seen.

"Sir, why are you were?" She pointed the microphone at her. He inexpectly grabbed it and started answering loud: "We are here to demand that the US government recognizes and welcomes our extraterrestrial brothers! The truth cannot be hidden anymore! It's out there on the skies!"

"You believe that the recent unexplained phenomena seen is the work of aliens life forms?"

"Yes! Enough of the propaganda and lies that the government is saying! Let's welcome our saviours!" Another click of the button and the image disappeared into blank while Johnson paused to recollect his thoughts. 

"The FBI has confirmed that local and state police report manifestations like this happening all over the major cities in the country. And the NSA has also checked, through their interception of foreign transmissions that this is happening worldwide. If it keeps growing like it was for the past months, pretty soon people will be starting asking questions to their elected officials and so will the media about what is the government doing about this". And the intelligence and military will also be under constant scrutiny, which will only make things worse. More bad news on the way, Williams thought and then cursed it. "We need answers to deal with this".

Parker was so quick to respond that Williams was surprise. The CIA man simply said, keeping his eyes down: "Spread rumours".

 "Excuse me Parker?" What was the man talking about, Williams thought?

"A few unidentified phone calls. With phoney, almost unbelievable stories that also can explain what is going on. Pretty soon everyone gets confused because of the contradiction between all versions and decide to forget the whole story, thinking that the government must be correct. Of course, this is public and media manipulation and, if it ever gets find out we will be spending the rest of our lives in jail".

"Out of the question! That goes against all that we believe in!" After speaking, Williams still kept his mouth opened in surprise of what had just been proposed. 

"All work in the intelligence business, besides Davis over there, whose job is to hunt down our foreign counterparts. So, we all know what this is all about. Rules get broken on this business, so let's not have a futile discussion now about morale or ethics and let's consider the alternatives: one, we do nothing about this and until eventually the whole truth comes out like a bomb, that the government has been hiding the truth from everybody; two, we admit it and chaos sets in, national panic that will only hinder our efforts; three, we come up with a temporary excuse that will only delay and worsen the problem; or four, we act to do our role, which is to protect the public, which doesn't know that they are being manipulated  by the aliens. What is at stake here is how far we are willing to go to fight these aliens, but we, the ones in this room and our superiors. If we win our actions will be eventually discovered but they will be morally justified. If we loose there will be no country, no media, no courts to judge us!"

Suddenly the words of the alien during the interrogation came to Johnson's mind and he knew already the action to take. Only one thing left to decide. He looked at Davis, the FBI man showing to be going through the same dilemma, made even worse for he, unlike the rest of them, was a policeman. Sworn to uphold the law, and on this case it stated that the government was prohibited of spreading disinformation. Both their eyes crossed and after two seconds Davis lowered his eyes, in concession. All the other members kept quiet, already coming up with the same conclusion.

Is that how they started? Williams considered, a cold darkness filling his heart. By coming to the logical conclusion that they needed to give away all they values, their feelings, their humanity in order to survive? How all the secrecy begun, how the conspiracy started, years and decades ago. Are we going to come up with the same conclusions as them, deciding that collaborating with the aliens is our only way to stay alive? "Very well, but this will go up to the DCI for final authorization. If we have it we will then start making up a plan". The silence in the room indicated the consensus of all men. At least when the shit hit the fan they could always allege that they were following superior orders. 

March 18th, 1999

The Kremlin, Moscow, Russian Federation

Larianov was getting bored with the technological briefing he was receiving. He had studied to be a party bureaucrat and had managed to rise to the Central Committee of the old Communist Party of the Soviet Union until the break-up of 1991. The last time he had any sort of scientific interest had been long lost in the memories of his childhood, back to the days passed on the CPSU's Youth Pioneers when everyone had their fair share of enthusiasm about the space conquests of the Soviet Union. But upon passing teenagehood come other dreams, fostered by a father that had the right connections and a strong will to succeed. And finally his dreams had come through, when the old Yeltsin fool body's had finally succumbed to a lifetime of abuse, allowing for him, then vice-president to assume his proper place. The following elections the year after had been easy to win. And this is what I need to keep things as they are right now, he thought. 

"Dr. Ziguanine, please stop this awful presentation! What I need to know is how we can properly use the laser to kill these invaders!" His tongue startled the scientist who then recomposed himself and talking with a hurt dignity then spoke:

"The targeting system is as much as we can do. The computers simply can't deal yet with the amount of calculations necessary to hit an UFO at it's full speed. Or at least keep the beam locked into target long enough to assure it's destruction. That is also because of the deterioration of the beam power by a series of events, such as clouds, air diffusion and so. That also makes it impossible to hit anything on our atmosphere."

"So we spend a big portion of our meagre resources for nothing?!" Larianov felt like about to explode.

"No sir." Larianov looked at the man carefully, warning him to watch out for his next words. The scientist just plainly ignored him, giving an almost imperceptible look of content for someone so stupid. "We have done a lot of work before on particle beam weapons, which are more powerful than lasers. We can apply that work to the Umbrella project and then, we will have a weapon capable of hitting anything on space or Earth. If any craft lands on our territory it will be immediately destroyed."

"And how long will it take?"

"A couple of months sir, at the best estimate".

"I expect to see practical results as soon as possible Dr. Ziguanine and this time don't disappoint me!" The scientist looked appalled but collected his presentation material, excused himself and left the room. When the door closed, Larianov turned to the head of the foreign intelligence service, which had kept quiet until now and asked:

"Mr. Verchenko, what is the evaluation of the SVK over the worldwide repercussions of this weapon?"

"At national level the initial test has surprised a lot of Western governments. And their decision not to bring this up to the UN or into public view shows that they don't want to risk the effects of public opinion knowing about our new weapon, because of it's disestablishing factor. Our estimate regarding other world players aware of the laser also shows that, while making discreet warnings, they won't do anything about it".

"And the aliens?"

"They either don't perceive it as a threat, which is understandable, or otherwise they would have attacked against it. Another possibility is that they failed to detect it, which is also likely due to the absence of alien craft during the test".

"So, if we manage to bring Umbrella into his full potential we would be able to surprise them?"

"Yes, and get an upper hand. They would have to react to it and the weapon would make that very costly in terms of military losses. Better yet, we might offer our assistance to other countries, in exchange of commercial or monetary assets. That way we could circumvent the actual necessity of X-Com and build our own defence network, directly responsible to us".

"Very well. What else is to report about the bastard Illyuschenko's force?"

"They are into deep financial problems. They have overextended their deployment and right now a lot of bases are undermanned and under equipped. Other nations, besides us, are also complaining about their lack of success over their territory. In specific terms, they have about five bases that can be described as operational, with the others being handled by skeleton crews. The two in North America, the one in Germany, the other in the Caucasus area and the final one in Japan. More grumbling will come from that fact, especially since they are all located in the northern hemisphere. Which might allow for the necessary majority required to take the changes we have been asking, specially in the Charter aspects regarding chain of command and release of weapons data". 

"Data you have failed to supply so far".

"The security mechanisms built into their information network make it impossible for my operatives to access it without compromising themselves. Weapons research data is only available to the senior military commanders and specific scientific personnel. My services need more time. We should ask our Defence Minister why our glorious armed forces haven't succeeded so far in recovering an UFO instead!" When on being attacked better to deflect the fire into someone else, Verchenko thought. 

The final men on the room kept silenced for a couple of seconds until he finally tried to come up with an explanation. "The Charter gives X-Com complete priority upon the assault and recovery of alien craft, in order to restrain public knowledge. And our forces simply don't have the amount of preparation and material necessary to intercept or raid UFOs. Furthermore, every time X-Com manages to defeat the crew of an UFO they limit the access to the area, preventing our forces to get access to it. Besides engaging on a full confrontation with them there's no other way. That unless we had command over the Russian team".

"And Illyuschenko would prefer to die than allowing that". No wonder the old CPSU had so much political control over the Soviet Union's Armed Forces. Military just couldn't grasp the politics behind warfare, Larianov thought while cursing again the commander of X-Com.

March 20th, 1999

Yucatan Peninsula, Mexico

Another UFO had been detected as it approached the North American continent through the Pacific Ocean, but this time it headed out for Mexico. After consultations with the Mexican authorities, the team had been given the go to assault the craft after it had landed. The Skyranger had then flown a course that had led it crossing the border over the Rio Grande, before heading south into the Yucatan Peninsula. 

The satellite reconnaissance had provided sketchy details. It seemed that the fast mover had landed on a deep-forested area that contained unusual natural elevations. But this time they wouldn't alert the aliens of their presence by landing close to the craft. The men on his team were paid to develop infiltration skills and this time they would sneak on the aliens. 

Jones moved again on his seat again, trying to get to find a better position. Failing, he then spoke: "Man, we needed to take the change and drop by at Cancun, you know what I mean? I could use some days off this crap since my butt is getting squared by these damn Russian seats".

King was seated in front of him and looked as if he was sleeping, his head hanging against the hull of the Skyranger and his arms locked in front of him, holding his laser rifle. He half opened his eyes and spoke: "Why don't you suggest that to the Big Lady?"

"The what? What are you talking about King?"

"You never heard of her? I thought her reputation went over the Army, but I guess you Navy boys tend to keep your ears full of water". 

"King, what the fuck are you talking about?"

"Base rumour has it that Captain Sheila Markovitch, the hero of the 82nd Airborne Division is about to sign in with X-Com".

"Wait a minute. You are talking about 'the' Markovitch that during Somalia single handily managed to save an entire platoon that had been ambushed?" Jones gasped. 

"None but her. But like I said: base rumour. Still, from all of the sudden the Colonel has ordered the construction of separate living quarters for women".

"Markovitch is a woman? Holy shit!"

"Just get a hold on your hormones while near her Jones. Otherwise she will cut your balls and force you to eat them for breakfast, from what I've been heard".

A couple of hours later, the Skyranger landed in the middle of a clearing in the tropical forest. Orders from Colonel Johnson had dictated that operational doctrine for the West team would be of stealthy maneuvers, in opposition of the frontal attacks that were being used by the East team and Captain Forrester was more than willing to comply with the order. After having secured the LZ, all the squads assembled themselves and started moving for their target, which laid some kilometers away keeping a complete silence. 

King was acting, as usual, detached from the main squads, this time accompanied with a rookie from Quebec that had arrived two days before from the Canadian military. The trooper looked anxious but had been well trained into sniper assistance role, so King didn't mind the chance of things although his role in this deep forest greatly negated the range of which he could spot an enemy.

When they had arrived at thee vicinity of the UFO the teams had deployed and King had been assigned the left flank since it had some elevations that could be used to pour fire down at the aliens. Moving carefully with Deschamps behind he stopped when he heard the muffled sound of laser fire, almost imperceptible to one that wasn't used to it, on the distance followed by alien weapon's discharges.

"Gamma flank the snipers between us and the UFO". The radio cracked with the voice of the Captain. King proceed as planned. Epsilon come up front and give us a hand suppressing these idiots in front of us!"

Looking back to check on Deschamps he saw that the private looked back at him with a questioning look. "They can handle themselves. Let's get moving". They continued through the thick deep forest, now all-quiet from the usual bird and other animals' noises. The place looks too quiet, King thought, too damn quiet. Then he looked at one of the mounts and saw the reason.

Two Floaters were coming in from inside the deeply forested hill that was in front of them, through some opening that was completely with illumination. They probably had also heard the gunfire at the distance and were coming out to check the origin of the noise. King immediately got them and Deschamps quickly followed his motions. The trooper then crawled at the sniper's indication joined with behind the large fallen down tree they were using for cover. King made a two sign and then pointed to the left. Both men took position and aimed for their targets.

Looking through the sight he had installed in his laser rifle, King focused on the chest of the pink alien. Satisfied he then pressed the trigger on his weapon twice. Deschamps did the same thing a second afterwards and both aliens fell to the ground, releasing a gruesome death scream as they died. King immediately moved to the opening of the hill, while his partner kept the darkened hole covered. Upon reaching it, his hand went to his belt and grabbed a flare. He broke it to light it up and them threw it into the opening, taking a peek right afterwards. No movement or aliens inside. He gestured Deschamps to come forward and started going inside the cave, checking every shadow. The tunnel was about eight feet high and thirteen wide. He took small steps until he noticed something strange. King looked down and saw the reason: the ground had changed into stone. "What the hell?" he asked. And then he looked downwards and become even more surprised.

Trooper Jones wasn't having a good afternoon. Gamma team had flankered the snipers that were dropping fire into Alpha and Epsilon and had managed to surprise them, killing three in a few seconds of laser fire. Pershing had been hit, but the new armor had kept him alive, although if barely. But other aliens had attacked them at the same time, forcing them to dug in. He looked at the Lieutenant who was trying to contain the bleeding coming from Pershing's stomach. Great, no help there.

He and Rodriguez were trying to see the direction of the shots but the dense foliage prevented them from spotting the aliens. But after some attempts that were greeted by alien fire both of them decided it was a dangerous business. Fuck this shit, Jones thought.

Rodriguez crawled up to him and, a few seconds later, a grenade went on the spot he was just laying at. "Shit! Pinche idiot cabrón!"

"Would you mind swearing on a language comprehensible to the rest of us, Rodriguez?" 

"They are closing on us Jones. No time for Spanish classes now. Pretty soon more grenades will follow. We need some support here and fast!"

"No can do. The LT just talked to the Capt. Epsilon is storming the UFO and Alpha also got hit by wondering aliens coming back from their jungle stroll and have taken casualties. Dexter bought his six foot".

"Shit! Why do they accept guys who look like if they drink their milk every morning, by mum's orders?"

"Shut up and let's save our asses instead. Cover me and I will make a run for that elevation there on the right. Maybe I can get a better position to shoot back at them". Rodriguez looked. A good fifty yards separated them from the small hill. "You will only waste your miserable life".

"Hey. I played running back at the Navy football team. Now just cover my ass". Raising himself on a leap, he grabbed his laser rifle with both arms, as if holding a football and started running. He heard Rodriguez calling him an idiot, before the green bolts begun to fizzle their way to the point where his body was just one second ago, burning through the tropical vegetation and carving big chunks of the bushes.

Rodriguez took opportunity and, getting up, brought his autocannon into play and fired high explosive rounds in the direction of the shots. "Rodriguez, get the fuck down!" The lieutenant was still trying to patch Pershing while taking notice of the situation. "Sorry sir. Too many crazy people on this squad. Just keep Pershing alive". And he continued firing his cannon, blowing fair shares of the forest that hid the aliens. 

Jones thought that he had just broken a world record when he threw himself to the side of the hill, the last Elerium bolt making a scratch on his back armour and slightly burning him. As he turned to point his laser he noticed that the terrain was unstable, having nothing to do with what he expected. Ignoring it for the moment, he trailed his weapon. A Floater, his pink colour now clearly visible behind a huge flowered bush in the distance was fondling with a grenade. 

"Oh no, you don't!" He instantly sent a volley of laser fire and missed completely. "Shit!" Correcting his aim he managed to kill the alien before it could end the motion of throwing the grenade into his direction. The explosive felt on the ground and another Floater who was also hiding nearby got up and tried to escape. Rodriguez shots blew his back; covering the nearby vegetation with pieces of his red cloak, pink alien flesh and green blood. The explosion of the grenade helped wreck further the scene, completing desecrating both bodies behind recognition and showing the metal implants they were.

"About time!" Jones spat and then remembered to look down. Instead of earth he saw mortar bricks. "What the fuck?"

On another place of the battlefield, trooper Manning was also feeling a different kind of surprise, although because of a completely different situation. It was his first time inside an UFO and although he had been briefed on what to expect and the general layout he still couldn't keep his amazement. In spite of the illumination inside that illuminated the metal walls and the magenta instruments inside there was no lights to justify for it. He looked ahead. The other members of Epsilon had first thrown in a concussion grenade inside the Celtic cross type UFO and then stormed the room. The Floater that was inside was too stumbled to respond to their entry and had been killed instantly. They had entered through one of the craft's arms and now there were two rooms on both side arms. Sergeant Grisham and Trooper Manning were moving towards the left one, while him approached the right one, with Pickering on cover. 

When he reached the door it suddenly went up and a Floater carrying one of the black Elerium rifles appeared. He thrusted his own weapon forward and shot him at point blank range. Another Floater stepped in and he had only time to move away from the barrel of the weapon when it discharged. A human scream was heard. Logan saw the blast hitting the Pickering directly on his shoulder and shearing the arm off neatly, showing a blackened collarbone and the up of his rib cage and a stream of blood that painted it quickly red. 

Logan went crazy on the sight, his mind seeing too much to handle. He grabbed his laser rifle with both hands and started pouring fire on the alien. The Floater spasmed after being hit for the first time on the abdomen, and them dropped to the floor as the next shots took him on the chest. The X-Com trooper then charged into the next room, without paying any regard to his attention. 

Two blue chairs rested on what he assumed was the front arm of the UFO, with a door that led to the engine room on the centre. Other lights were visible from monitors and machinery placed in front of the seats, but Logan was too absorbed to pay attention to them. He saw two Floaters that were looking to the way that the other half of the team had chosen to enter the control room and immediately opened fire at their sight. The shots hit the monitors, short circuiting them and making them go off as the stream of laser fire moved from right to left, finally catching the aliens and making them drop with death shrieks that clicked Logan out of his bezerker condition. Shaking his head to clear it off and regain control of himself, he failed to notice that the door to the central room had just opened and that another Floater had just stepped out. He only had time to see the big mouth of the barrel of the alien's weapon before it all went to dark. 

Captain Forrester removed his alien alloy helmet and passed his hand on his forehead to clear it of the sweat it was swarmed in. Crap, why did I have to pull such a scratchy mission on my first time on command, he asked. Everything had went according to plan until the aliens had also flanked them and putting the whole team into a lot of trouble until they were defeated. He had already checked with Gamma and find out about Pershing. The Lieutenant had managed to secure his condition although the man needed some urgent medical assistance to survive. Activating Epsilon's command circuit he them went to check on the other squads.

"Grisham, what's your status?"

"UFO secured, we killed a lot of aliens inside and lost Pickering. That is Logan killed a lot of aliens inside after seeing his companion went down and going bezerker on the middle of the craft. Thank God no other team members were with him at that time or they also would get squashed."

"How is he?"

"Unconscious. The guy was lucky that the Floater who got him used a stun type weapon. I've never seen a bastard with such luck. We got the alien afterwards."

"Very well, clear out the UFO of all transportable items. Let's leave the rest for the recovery crew". Meanwhile Gamma squad had joined his own squad outside the craft, with Jerrel and Rodriguez carrying the wounded trooper on a makeshift stretcher made out of branches and foliage. Jones was carrying the other trooper's weapons and he turned to the Captain and said:

"Capt, there's some strange shit around. The mounts and small hills are of an artificial origin. I stumbled into one in the middle of the battle and found out it was made of carved stone".

"Just leave it Jones".

"Sir, this is strange. Why did the aliens land here?"

"Let's leave that to the clean-up crew. We are just paid to kill them". The radio went active suddenly with King's voice. 

"Sir, this is Omega squad. We have found something you might want to check. We are to the north nearby a small hill". 

"Hold on King. I'm coming". Turning to the rest of his men he said: "Finish mopping up this place and take Pershing back to the Skyranger. I want to get out of here before sun dawn". He then moved in the direction of Omega's position. 

He found King and Deschamps waiting for him on the side of one of the small hills, their weapons on their hands but keeping a relaxed position. Two aliens were on the ground, dead, their weaponry already assembled at a pile by the two troopers. When he got near them King spoke: "The area is clear for almost half a klick sir. But what we found isn't aliens". Forrester felt tired and wanted this to be over. But he also knew the valour of the sniper and weight of his word. King had already saved his butt once. 

"What is it then King?" 

"Just follow me sir, and you will see. It beats any description I can make". He turned and went inside the hill through an opening that Forrester had disregarded until then. Electrical flares were on the ground lighting up the place. The Captain then noticed that, some yards after the entrance the tunnel looked more like a built corridor, with the ground made of flat stones. The jungle hadn't completely invaded the inside and, after a while the whole tunnel looked as if it had to be artificial. 

"What the hell is this King?"

"Sir, from what I know, this area is full of pre-Colombian old cities that have been taken over by the jungle". 

"Pre-Colombian?" Forrester asked as they kept going through the deeps of the hill, turning left and right in what seemed to be a maze. But King looked as if he knew where he was going.

"The ancient American civilizations sir. Here I think it was the Mayans or the Aztecs I'm not sure. And this hill sure looks like one of their pyramids but long abandoned and left to the jungle".

"King, we have better things to do than archaeology. If this is what you wanted me to see, let's head back now".

"Just hold on a second sir, we are almost getting there". They made a final turn and suddenly the two of them found themselves on a big chamber, about some twenty feet high, inside and under the pyramid. More flares lit it up, giving it a yellow light that forged shadows into the walls. A big shape was visible inside the room.

"What the hell is that and how did it got here?!" Forrester couldn't believe it. An flying saucer type UFO rested itself on the middle of the chamber, the grey craft reflecting the yellow lights.

"Your guess is as good as mine. But I guess the folks down here had better relations with them than we presently do". Jones pointed to wall that was covering with what looked to be language of some sort. Forrester knew that he wouldn't be able to understand it, but as he looked at it he saw some familiar representations. Of a multi-staged pyramid and a UFO landed on top of it. And of a Sectoid, recognizable by the black eyes, with human figures standing next to him, but at a lower level.

"Holy shit!"

"Damn right sir. My guess is that these dumb idiots adored the bugs as Gods or something".

"But how did this thing get inside the pyramid?"

"The ship is pretty much wrecked inside, with signs that the engine might have exploded. Probably this thing crashed centuries ago and some of them might have survived and contacted the natives".

"If you come up with that much King, maybe you should be together with the lab rats instead of eating dirt like the rest of us".

"I don't think so, sir. Killing bugs is more fun than trying to understand them".

Area 51, Nevada, US

A lot of agitation had been going on the X-Com base, due to the recovery of the UFO, but Eva Johannes just ignored it while she looked at the captured flying saucer that rested on one corner of the hangar. The Colonel was over there looking for the retrieval operation and she wanted to keep clear of him, after knowing what had been the final destiny of the captured alien. He reminded her of her grandfather and the terrible stories that had been told about his actions on Second World War while fighting in the Russian front. It puzzled her at the same time how could a man so civilized to show such a barbaric behaviour but she stopped thinking about it and kept her attention at her work. 

Dr. Mantell was also present and they had just activated the engine inside the UFO, while taking particle readings from it. After a couple of seconds she become frustrated with the results and Mantell, noticing her reaction shut down the engine.

"Absolutely no results. This is incredible". She found one of the blue seats, ignored the laser burn on it and sat down, exhausted.

"Like I told you, the energy it releases is undetectable. The Elerium gets consumed but with no visible results. And our work on the control elements to try to get different reactions has also led to nothing. We can't understand the basic principles of the system". 

"And we have found out that it releases antimatter when bombarded with high-speed particles but we are unable to control the process. The energy from the reaction just unreleases itself in a massive explosion. Something is missing us here". 

"Yes. We have theorized that they must be using something close to the magnetic fields used by the Soviets during their fusion reactors development program, but we are unable to replicate it."

"Could we try to apply their research on it?" The frustration was making her too tired. 

"The concept was still far a long way to go when it was first announced back on the eighties. I doubt if they managed to go any further or we would have seen the results by now".

"Leaving us with a growing amount of trash that can't be used because we don't understand how it works".

"They can be used, Doctor, they just aren't reliable on combat, since one never knows when it eventually stops firing for good, first after the first blast or the tenth and that why High Command has banned their use". Johnson stepped into the UFO. 

"Good afternoon, Colonel". Her tone got cold at the same moment.

"Good afternoon, miss, Dr. Mantell. Sorry for interrupting but I just finished directing the recovery operations and wanted both of you to look at some if the items retrieved". 

"What do you mean they can be fired Colonel?"

"Just got a report meanwhile from Mother One, Doctor. Apparently they discovered a security mechanism on the weapons that prevented from being discharged from anyone but their owner. It had to do with DNA detection from what I remember. It apparently checked the user's genetic code and if a negative answer was given the weapon would unpower down by itself".

"Why haven't you told this to me before? I need to get back there to study the beam it releases". She got out of the craft running for the door that led into the communications room and nearly knocking Johnson on her way.

"Hey! Watch out!" But she was already too away to hear him. "Crazy woman", Johnson said to herself.

"If you don't mind Colonel, I must be going also". Johnson acknowledged and Mantell also left following the direction she took. "Crazy lunatic scientists" he said with a laugh. The lights and siren that warned of an incoming light started to be heard on the hangar and Johnson thought what could be scheduled for landing. He had seen the flight rooster for today and the recovery team was only due for some more hours. Looking up, he saw the massive roof doors begun to open and the blast protections raising themselves on the floor of the hangar. Light from the outside come up and against it Johnson saw a V-22 Osprey VTOL aircraft slowly descending itself into the depths of the X-Com base. It kept lowering, filling the inside of the hangar with noise and a wind that made Johnson take cover inside the UFO. He only come out after it had landed and the engines were off, the fans on the sides of the hangar already working to eliminate all the fumes released by its engines. Johnson looked to the body of the plane to try to identify who might be arriving. He saw that by the almost imperceptible "AP" that was painted on its side to make it appear as an US Air Force plane that it had come from the Appalachian X-Com base, probably on a non-stop flight until here. A door opened on its side and a group of soldiers came out dressed in X-Com black jumpsuits and carrying bags. He started to recognize some of the faces from his personnel logs. They were the new recruits that had just been hired to allow for the expansion of the X-Com's West team. But why were they here already? Major Priscott, the responsible for flight operations suddenly appeared on hangar, surrounded by a fully armed team of security personnel and an enraged General Smith.

When both of them saw Johnson they changed their course into his direction. General Smith got to him first and started firing, his eyes blood-shot red: "You can bet that you will never pull another stunt like that before Mister! You might control this here but you just can't disregard security protocols like you did!"

Johnson momentarily puzzled looked back at Prescott for an explanation.

"Sir, that aircraft right there just appeared out of nowhere, unscheduled, without proper clearance and demanded to be let access into the facility through the X-Com's frequencies and codes". He took a dire look and completed: "I allowed them to land, otherwise we could bring unnecessary attention into ourselves. I take responsibility for that, but there will also hell to pay for the guy on charge of that plane!"

"What Mr. Stupid did right here was to ignore every safety protocol of Area 51! And while we don't need to give you authorization we have the right to be informed of every upcoming flight in advance!"

"General, I apologize for this event and can only assure you that will never happen again. Now, if you don't mind we will discuss this later for I have some explanations to receive". 

"You can bet all your money on it!" He turned his back and stomped out of the hangar, pushing aside the security troops that were waiting for orders.

"I don't think we'll need them Major. I have an idea of who might have arrived. Please get back to Command Center and I will deal with this. And please ask Hopkins to join me here". Johnson went over to the craft. The latest results of the ground teams had enabled them to lessen down a bit the physical and mental requirements and had allowed for more recruits. Pretty soon West base would have available eight four-man squads which would allow the others some well deserved rest after near two full months of a great deal of activity over the North American continent. He already knew the identity of all these soldiers and their provenience. Most of them had come from the Marines or Army, some even from the Air Force like Johnson himself and the Major in the group of three officers that awaited him. He had worked before with the female officer in front of him also and he decided to get things started by her, with no doubt the cause of all this mess. Just her appearance smelled of confrontation as he approached her. The woman was the walking definition of a female storm trooper. Almost matching his six-foot, eight-inches height, her forehead stood at his eyes level, the brown curly hair cut in a purely military fashion, but when he looked down to see her directly as he approached her, she lift her head as if challenging him while saluting. The same attitude again, it seems. He had known her when they both server together in the same unit, right before he had went to his old 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment and het to the 82nd Airborne Division.

"Captain Sheila Markovitch reporting for duty, sir!" He returned the salute with a quick one of his own and started speaking:

"Captain Markovitch, might I ask what have you just done? I take it this to be your work, since Major Patterson and Captain Clark here would never try anything like that from what I know of their profile?" Johnson gave her a stern look. As always she needed to know who was in charge.

"Sir, reinforcements presenting, sir! I decided that we weren't doing much waiting for the final paperwork to be done at the Appalachian Base so I arranged for proper transportation to here, sir!" She kept firm, without showing any regret.

"Captain, we will discuss this later on my quarters. Let me say that you just got yourself suspended from combat duties for now for an undetermined period!" Her eyes flashed briefly with rage but she quickly composed herself and with grim determination replied: "Yes sir!" Turning away from her, she moved to the next officer in line.

"As for you Major Patterson, before I welcome my new Executive Officer and the rest of you into Area 51 can you please tell me if the Air Force hasn't learned anything from the collaboration between the 16th Special Operations Group and the 82nd?"

"Just to not get on their way Colonel. And I think that is lesson number one". The Afro-American man made a quick smirk, before its moustached mouth went back into a emotionless position.

"I see". Turning to the final officer, the replacement of Tyrell after the Californian pilot had been killed by the hybrid, he said: "You got yourself into a pool full of sharks here, Captain Clark. Sure you want to continue with us?" The Texan former Air Force F-15C Eagle fighter jockey just nodded and said, with a clear smile: "I always loved a good brawl… sir!"

Everyone is getting too cocky, Johnson said to himself. Sure the new armours and laser weapons had put the fight on the battlefield more balanced for the humans, but we can't allow to build any slack into ourselves or we might get some nasty surprises in the future. He looked at the grunts that were waiting in full attention. They looked as aggressive as the first members of the team had been until the first confrontation.

"As for the rest of you, my name is Colonel Johnson and I am the commanding officer of the West North American X-Com team. You have been chosen and asked to volunteer for this assignment because of your skills and combat experience. I congratulate you on your decision to jump into such a dangerous assignment and welcome you to the team". Hopkins had suddenly crept by his side and he decided to let the Sergeant start whipping them.

"This here is Sergeant Hopkins, he will be your guide from now on since other, expected, duties wait me. Carry on Sergeant!" They all saluted again and, after responding, Johnson left, giving a last glance at Markovitch. The woman maintained her pose. "And if you please, Captain, let's talk about this whole incident in my office".

"All right, you rookies, stop looking like that at my face! If you're dumb enough you won't be this lucky to only come out will small scratches like this and will leave this base on a body bag!  Get your gear and let's start moving!"

Johnson headed out for his office, with Markovitch on tow. When they reached it he opened the door and headed straight forward, leaving the female Captain the task of closing the entrance. When she finished doing that, he started speaking:

"What the hell of a stunt was that Captain? Failure to comply with safety and security procedures! Unauthorized requisition of military equipment! And a gung-ho attitude that we don't need here!" He kept himself standing up, while waiting for her answer, eyeing her furiously.

"Sir, permission to speak freely, sir!"

"Go right ahead Captain!"

"Erwin, don't tell me that all of this is because you're still pissed off that I left you."

Shit, there it goes, Johnson thought. I knew it was a mistake allowing her into the team.

"Captain, we have resolved those matters a long time ago. What I'm questioning right here is your failure to follow rules and procedures!"

"Don't give me that crap Erwin! I know that you were always sore that I refused to follow you into special ops after you decided to leave the 82nd. When I accepted X-Com's proposal I had no idea that you were running this stint and I become surprised. Either you had let it go into the past or you had something else in mind".

"First, that's Colonel Johnson to you, Captain. Second, X-Com Commander in Chief asked me for my personal evaluation of your combat abilities since you served under my command. I told him what I knew: that you were a crack officer at tactical level and pushed your troops to their limit and far beyond. And also that you had a problem with discipline and that was the reason why you are still a Captain".

"I take it that you failed to mention this thing we had going on between both of us while we served together. Tell me Colonel, was that because you didn't want to stain your record? Because since we kept it hidden so well before from the hierarchy that you still wanted to maintain your perfect image of following orders with no question? Of course, a relationship like this takes a lot more to maintain a secret when both of us are distant, doesn't it?"

"That is enough Captain! My personal feelings have nothing to do with this situation! You acted your own stubborn way like you always did! Keep it that way here and you will be getting into a lot of trouble, mister!"

"Very well then Colonel, sir! I will try to follow operational procedures from this day on…sir!"  
"And you will, Captain, you will. Until I'm sure of it you are off combat operations! We don't need the cavalry storming around here; in fact I'm surprised you didn't ask to be assigned for Colonel Jackson's command. His style is more like yours!"

"Very well sir. Permission to leave then"

"Granted!" Johnson was beginning to calm down when she turned to him on her way out and spoke while closing the door: "And Erwin, I know you are wondering why the hell did I decide to come here instead of staying at the Appalachian base. One reason is that your team is the best in the business. The other is that I miss those long shower debriefing sessions after a mission".

"Get the hell out of my office!" He shouted at her as she closed the door. I knew this was a mistake, he thought. Shit! Someone knocked on the door. Her again? He barked: "Enter and be brief!"

Major Patterson's head appeared on the side of the door cautiously and the officer asked: "Sorry for bothering, Colonel, but I heard some noise down the corridor and I saw Captain Markovitch leaving your office afterwards and I was just checking if everything was allright"

"Everything is dandy, Patterson! Just lovely, thanks. Now if you please, I got work to do". The Major relaxed and answered back: "Sure sir. Sorry for the inconvenience". As he closed the door, Patterson said to himself that things were already starting to be like back on the old days. 

March 23rd, 1999

Headquarters Strike Command, RAF High Wycombe, UK

Another cry came out on the communications radio, "I'm hit! The primary hydraulic system is gone! I can't get the plane to respond any of my commands!"

"Tiger Three, this is Lair. Eject! Eject!" The controller looked helpless as another of the Tornado F.3 interceptors had just been hit by one of the UFO's weapons. The Royal Air Force had committed four interceptors to shooting down the large UFO that had been detected approaching the British Isles from the northwest and was heading for central England. The radar signature of the craft had made it possible that it was one of the type used in the LA raid and the Air Vice-Marshal in command of UK Air Defence didn't want it to get close to the Home Islands. 

"Tiger Three, do you copy?" Silence only greeted the air interception officer. "Tiger Three eject now!" Looking at the board he saw that the friendly icon that identity the remaining Tornado on the formation had disappeared and that the UFO was continuing its course. 

He turned to the Air Marshall. "Sir all the planes on Tiger flight have been shot down. We could scramble some Hawk training fighters equipped with Sidewinder missiles to try to shoot it down".

"They would only manage to commit suicide, son. The Tornados had to launch at the maximum range allowed for the Amraam missiles and still couldn't get any hits. And that thing is equipped with a weapon that has a greater range than ours. No, get me to the Minister of Defence. They are coming and we need to get prepared". 

Mother One, Black Forest, Germany

On the other side of the Channel, Colonel MacTaggert and General Illyuschenko were also receiving the same radar information back at Mother One base on the German Black Forest.

"Commander we need to deploy this minute! They are going to hit some target on the UK!"

"How many men do you have, Colonel?" Illyuschenko already knew the answer.

"I have two complete squads sir. Third is down to fifty per cent strength after the mission on Iceland a couple of days ago. And nearly all men of the Fourth are on the medical facility with all types of injuries. We simply had no idea that the aliens had the equivalent of a grenade and that it was much more powerful than ours".

"That leaves you with only eleven combat capable troops, Colonel. Do you think that is enough? The LA raid showed that the aliens deploy a big amount of troops on these incursions".

"Sir, I can't just let my countrymen get killed by the aliens with me doing nothing. You will have to throw me in the brig if you want to stop me!"

Illyuschenko looked at his officer and coldly realized that there wasn't any option. About MacTaggert or anything. Things weren't getting better. The amount of reported UFO incursions had increased and X-Com simply didn't had the resources to deal with most of them. A lot of countries were growing dissatisfied at their performance, which only meant more financial bad news next month. And they couldn't allow that the British had motives to cut back on their funding, a possibility most likely to happen if the UFO was about to conduct a terror raid and if it X-Com didn't respond to it. 

"Very well. Get your men ready this second. But I'm coming also. I can't sent all of you to get killed and sit here watching".

"Commander, that is bloody insane, sir! You are the responsible for all of this and are too precious to risk your life going against the aliens!"

"If you think I'm not ready for combat, Colonel, let's both of us quickly head out for the gym and settle this on a fight. Otherwise, the choice is yours: either we all go or we stay here and watch the killings".

"You have personal orders from the UN's Secretary General and the Council of Founding Nations not to expose yourself into dangerous situations sir!"

"All of them are on their luxurious offices, doing whatever useless things they can find to fill their time. I'm in charge of military matters. And I decide that the risk of not dealing with this threat is much greater than any personal security matters. Let's go Colonel". And the hell with all the rest!

Coventry, United Kingdom

Two hours after it had taken off, the Skyranger landed on a neighbourhood near the centre of Coventry. The last radar report of the UFO showed it stopping its course over the city and landing somewhere inside the city limits. The British Army units assigned to deal with the attack were still hours away and the X-Com commanders, after receiving the sparse reports existent from the British Ministry of Defence had decided to deploy without support, to hold back the aliens until reinforcements could arrive. 

Illyuschenko had the Skyranger pilot make a flyby over the city for reconnaissance and they had found the UFO landed in the middle of a park before a near miss from a blast of the craft's weapons had forced them to turn back. Smoke was starting to come out from areas near the flying saucer's landing zone, starting to form a dark cloud over the city in the afternoon sky. While retreating they had been fired from one of the Floaters that were running amok on the streets, firing at everything that moved.

As soon as the first trooper got out of the Skyranger he was greeted by alien fire that come from the right side of the landing door. The squaddie fired back and moved to clear the ramp, other men already racing out to deploy. As a concession to the Colonel, Illyuschenko was the last soldier to leave the Skyranger, waiting impatiently as the men in front of him quickly got out, took cover and started firing back. 

When he finally deployed he saw that they had already cleared the landing zone and were moving forward to consolidate a perimeter around the plane. Not at some cost. One of the sergeants was lying on the ground near the ramp with his back turned to Illyuschenko and smoke coming out of his chest. He when to the trooper and turned him around to see his condition. Blank eyes greeted him, together with a silent bloody mouth. 

It came back. The ambushes on the Afghani Mountains that took many of his subordinates, the findings of their death captured countrymen, their bodies disfigured by the guerrillas. "Commander, are you all right?" MacTaggert's voice brought him back to reality. "We gotta leave. The Skyranger is taking off to go to a more secure location". 

"What's the situation?"

"The local police forces report on the radio of being overrun. I don't think we can expect any help from them. But the British's Army 16th Air Assault Brigade is getting ready to deploy here, although they are still getting ready".

"We need to strike. Make them react to gain more time". MacTaggert thought for a second and then asked: "The UFO?"

"Yes. For some reason it hasn't taken off yet and it must be the place where they are coordinating their attacks. If he hit it there we may disrupt their plans"

"What about the civilians sir?"

"We don't have enough troops to try to hold them back all over the city. If we come forward any situation were civilians are threatened we will help them. But our main objective is taking control of that monstrosity".

"Very well". You bastard, MacTaggert thought, I would like to see if you reacted that way back if this was happening in Russia. "Recce Squad, take point and get us to the park where the UFO is landed. Support and Assault Squads follow them on the flanks. Move out!"

Halfway between the landing zone and the park, the team entered an area of working-class housing, the old brick building standing on the sides of the street. So far everything looked desert. Either the evacuation warning had been on time or too late. Besides sporadic gunfire nothing else could be heard until a shriek suddenly greeted them. The European team stopped on their tracks. The noise was heard again and again, coming out from several directions. 

 "There!" The shout of one of the man made everyone else suddenly turn on his direction. Coming from a side street, one massive alien had just entered the small avenue and was turning to their direction, running. It looked like a huge brown furred frog in appearance, although it only had two massive legs with claws on the feet, which were pumping his body fast. Metal appendages covered parts of his limbs and back, giving him also a pair of gray horns on the side of his head. Red eyes added to the terror of the sight, together with a mouth full of sharp teeth.

Assault Squad was the first to react, firing their laser rifles and autocannons at the beast. Most of the shots went wide, but a few of them hit, leaving the creature with blackened spots and smoke coming out of them. But it kept running. And other aliens joined him, coming from the opposite side and from streets that the team had already passed. Illyuschenko targeted the first large toad with his laser rifle and taking aim, fired two shots in the direction of its head, hoping to hit whatever thing it had for brain. The laser discharges all hit the monster in the forehead and drilled through his tough fur but failed to stop it.

A human cry came from close to Illyuschenko and he turned suddenly on the direction. Blood splashed all over his face as one of the giant frogs that had circled the team, kept shredding the corpse of a X-Com trooper he had taken by surprise, his teeth cutting through muscle and bone as if it was wet paper. Illyuschenko pressed the trigger and kept his finger on it. When the first shots hit the alien it turned and got ready to attack. But the X-Com commander never hesitated while the alien approached him; the laser cutting through the fur until the monster finally dropped dead to the floor and continuing afterwards, to assure it was dead.

"Commander, stop firing! The alien is dead already! We have to go!" Coming out of a trance, Illyuschenko looked at MacTaggert. One of the frogs had bitten him on the leg, the armor baring resisting to be completely snatched off, and taking a piece of his limb with it. 

"How are we?"

"Two dead. And five of these things killed. Recce Squad has found the UFO meanwhile to the northeast. They report no enemy activity in the area. The way to the craft is bloody clear sir. And British Army units are already starting to arrive. I'm trying to contact their commander but it's still an overall mess".

"Contact Mother One and have them inform the UK Ministry of Defence informing of our presence and giving information about this new type of alien we have just encountered. And let's move!"

The run to the park where the UFO had landed happened without further incidents, although they passed on their way by civilians that had been killed by the aliens weapons, leaving charred bodies behind, or by the claws and teeth of the larger aliens. The Grim Reaper had arrived, Illyuschenko thought, just like in the American movies it has come into this town and took the lifes of everyone who stood on its path. He automatically restrained of looking to the corpses, afraid of his own reaction.

The UFO rested in the middle of the grass, showing no activity. Although it had been seen before by the unlucky British pilots who had tried to stop it, it was the first time X-Com had ever encountered such a craft. It was a large ship, with a circular central body that was two stories high. It had two shorter extensions on the sides from which large closed doors could be seen.

Illyuschenko joined MacTaggert beneath the cover of some bushes where the team had hid themselves. Suddenly engine noise started to be heard and, after some seconds, a Gazelle recce helicopter flew over some meters above their position and approached the UFO. A blast coming from an unseen weapon mount in the flying saucer hit the chopper, exploding it into a firewall. The burning wreckage landed noisily against the ground, the fire spreading to the nearby trees. "Bloody hell!" MacTaggert exclaimed as he saw the destruction. 

"Another reason for us to assault that thing, Colonel. We need to give your countrymen a chance to deploy and use their weapons on the aliens. Let's throw some smoke screen to cover our advance and divide the team between both doors".

"What if the outside aliens try to regain control of the craft?"

"Let them try. We can them ask for assistance and eliminate all of them while they try to dug us out of there".

"Sounds like a plan to me Commander. But I'm still wondering what the hell they are doing. The plan just looks too much deserted".

"Whatever it is, we will get them inexpectely while they are at the middle of it".

MacTaggert clicked on his radio and spoke: "Assault, take the left door. Support, get your weapons ready for close combat and take the right one. The rest follow in behind. Anyone with smoke use it to cover our approach. Target is getting control of that thing and holding it. Kill every alien on sight".

A couple of squaddies threw in phosphorus grenades and they started burning when they hit the grass, burning it into ashes and spreading a smoke cover that pretty soon engulfed all the area between them and the UFO.

 The team then started to move, trying to keep an eye on the doors through the smoke to see if any alien decided to take a look outside. Illyuschenko took a short run following the Assault team and joined them as they reached the opening. Giving the trooper closest to it an OK nod, he saw him pressing the door with his hand. It immediately went up with a whoosh and the team members jumped inside. A surprised Floater tried to respond but he was too slow and when down as a Corporal unleashed the fury of his autocannon into him, filling his body with armour-piercing rounds.

Gunfire noise could also be heard from the other side of the craft. Illyuschenko pushed inside the UFO in front of all others. He was inside a room where a large red canister was standing on a corner, supported by blue pipes that connected it to the ground. It was connected to the main body of the craft through a passageway that divided itself into two directions, circling what seemed to be a smaller room in the middle of the UFO. 

The Commander started to move forward but he stopped when he approached the central body astonished by what he was seeing. Men and women were restrained to the walls by some invisible force, their silent but conscious faces trying to call for help. Now there was an explanation for the delay on the departure of the UFO: leave one cargo of terrorists behind and board another.

As he started to try to help the civilians that had been imprisoned by the aliens, a noise of an opening door could suddenly be heard. Illyuschenko looked up and saw that right in the junction the corridor extended upwards to make a small alcove where a platform could be seen, together with an door that was now opened, showing a Floater. The alien pointed his rifle at Illyuschenko and fired, but missed, the Elerium leaving black marks in the floor of the craft. The X-Com commander dashed to the side trying to get some cover. Other team members reached the alcove and tried to respond to the alien's fire, but he got back inside, and their shots hit the door while it was closing.

"Find a way to get these civilians out of here! And one of you keep an eye on that door!" Illyuschenko then reached for his tactical radio and activated it: "Colonel there are civilians inside and watch out for an opening at the junction that leads into the upper level".

"Already know about the civilians commander. We got into a nasty firefight on this side and some of them got hit. We got an alien that tried to take a peak from that door and tried to reach it, but it's too dangerous. I have someone covering it right now. It seems that there's a door in this middle room. I suggest we join there since there must be an elevator upstairs inside". Illyuschenko left a man back and took the rest of the team in both directions.

They found MacTaggert and Support squad waiting for them by a door facing the same direction that they had entered the UFO. "What happened back there Colonel?"

"Two Floaters were finishing restraining some civilians when we got in. They fired back and in the gunfire some civilians got hit. I left two men behind, one of them covering the upper door and the other trying to help the wounded, but they need medical assistance badly".

"Let's take control of this thing and call in for the helicopters. On your mark, Colonel". MacTaggert nodded and pointed to the trooper near the door, telling him to go forward. The squaddie opened the door and all remaining men looked inside with their weapons ready. The circular room was deserted of any aliens. Dispersed over the room, the X-Com soldiers could see four Elerium engines giving an orange glow, circling a red spot right in the middle of the craft that was also illuminated orange, fitting perfectly the North American team's description of an alien elevator.

The soldiers moved carefully inside, checking every inch of the compartment until they suddenly stopped on their tracks when the glow coming out from the engines started to become stronger and a humming noise began to be heard. "What in the bloody hell is that?" interrogated MacTaggert. Illyuschenko was already running for the lift before he replied: "They must be trying to get away! We need to get to the control room before they can lift this thing up!" 

Checking to see that no aliens were waiting for him in the upper level, he positioned himself then under the opening and raised his arm as the North American team had reported. He immediately started to be moved upwards by some strange, unseen, force. When he reached the upper floor he found himself in a smaller room, completely clear unless for a door directly facing him. Another X-Com trooper joined him, carrying an autocannon after some seconds. Illyuschenko opened the door and looked carefully. The opening led into the middle of a corridor that extended to both sides of the door. He immediately got back inside as, when he looked to the right side, saw the muzzle of an alien pistol coming around the corner. He got out a grenade from his armour belt, pulled out the plastic cover from the trigger and pressed it, throwing it afterwards in the direction of the alien. Both troopers were more or less shielded by the blast and noise of the explosion from the door that started to down again. Other team members had meanwhile entered the upper level. "Where is the Colonel?" Illyuschenko asked quickly. 

"He's trying to disable the engines before this thing takes off…shit!" The trooper stopped in the middle of the sentence as they all sensed that the craft was moving. But one second later they felt that the ascent was going erratic as if the UFO was having trouble lifting off the ground. 

"I guess he partially managed that. Both of you take the right side, blow up every instrument and alien you saw. Go!" Illyuschenko followed the troopers as the exited the room through the door, but turned left. Running down the corridor he come up to a T-junction. He looked right and saw another small door. But when he saw the other direction he noticed that it opened to a much larger room, where there could be seen a seated alien at the controls of the craft. He pointed his rifle and started shooting, one of the three Floaters suddenly going into panic and firing at every direction. When he hit the pilot, the last one dropped his weapon and froze into place. Gunfire coming from the other team member blew him into pieces, the high-explosive rounds smashing his body and all the machinery around it. But the trooper carrying the autocannon didn't notice his commander on the other side of the room until it was too late. A round hit the wall right close to Illyuschenko and he was thrown into the ground, projected by the blast. Then the UFO suddenly hit the ground and Illyuschenko was thrown up in the air, as the dead engines were helpless now to counteract the effects of gravity and the inertia it brought to the craft. When he finally hit the ground Illyuschenko blackened out from the crash. 

Illyuschenko regained consciousness slowly and noticied he was laying on the grass outside the UFO, being tended by a British Army corpsman. The remaining members of the European team were close by, some of them also receiving medical attention while the others rested while seated on the ground, their weapons nearby. Transport helicopters flew in the air, together with armed gunships. An explosion could be heard occasionally at the distance. He checked himself and saw that he had no major injuries. After that he tried to get up but the soldier cut him off saying: "Please lay down, you have suffered an concussion and need to rest". 

"I'm OK for the moment. There's civilians over there that need help more than me. Go and help them now!" The corpsmen jumped away, surprised by the strength of his voice. He decided it would useless to argue and start to collect his medical gear. Illyuschenko got up and saw Captain Pearson seated on the ground with a red stained while bandage wrapped around his head. He turned to him and asked:

"Captain, where is the Colonel?"

"He's giving tactical assistance to the Army's forces on scene. Most of the opposition has been swept away, especially after they saw the UFO going down".

"Very well". He then remembered the other thing that was disturbing him. "What about the captured civilians inside the UFO?"

"We managed to save the majority of them". Illyuschenko froze. "The majority? What about the rest?" Pearson pointed to a line of covered corpses. "They got hit in the confrontation", he paused before adding, "some by friendly fire".

The Commander of X-Com managed to get up, in spite of the huge headache that was starting to hit him. He got to one of the plastic tarps that covered the bodies and pulled him back. The face of a dead woman greeted him. God, it never ends does it? No matter how much we try, they still keep dying although they have nothing to do with this. And now we have become again killers, instead of soldiers. We are nothing better than the aliens, are we? We have failed. You have failed, the voice kept pondering on him until he finally couldn't take it anymore and went back into unconsciousness. 

_André Galvão, 2001_


	9. The Grim Horizon

X-Com - The Unknown Menace

X-Com - The Unknown Menace

Chapter Eight – The Grim Horizon

March 25th, 1999

Forbidden City, Beijing, People's Republic of China

As usual, Chairman Zhu's first chore of the day consisted of a session of tai chi in order to prepare for the days' ordeal. He had taken into not falling under the excesses of his predecessors, whose life after obtaining high positions was of what he considered debauchery. One's mind can be only clear in a fit body he thought, as he went through a series of exercises, clearing his attention. 

He had chosen one of the restored Imperial gardens that rested in the middle of small plaza surrounded by buildings dating from the Manchus, the last dynasty of China. The area was deserted, save for himself, with specific orders having been given not to disturb him. The crank of the old wood beneath him was only registered on his mind for a second, and the anger of being interrupted quickly dissolved itself into a feeling that something important must have happened. To deal with it, he decided to first complete the exercise he was performing at the moment. Another series of movements was completed, his arms dancing in the air in front of him, moving through the rhythm of his body. He then stopped and said: "Speak!" 

He felt his deputy indecision about how to approach him, sudden freezing into place and after a second of hesitation the man nervously said: "Comrade Chairman, I'm sorry to disturb you but contact has been made". That caught Zhu's full attention and he opened his eyes to look directly at his subordinate. The deputy waited that the Chinese leader made any question, but seeing that his silence continued, he then carried on.

"An offer has been made, of collaboration"

"An offer or forced assistance?" Let's see who wants to be the puppeteer here, Chu thought. 

"They didn't specify details but merely pointed that they are open to discussion". The deputy had become first exuberant when he was notified. Now noticing his leader's reaction he wasn't sure of what to think. He continued. "If true, it will allow us to dispense with X-Com this minute and start looking for our own interests".

Chu eyes drifted through the ancient setting where both of them were standing, considering his subordinate's words. "How and when did it happen?"

"Last night. One of the Politburo's members loyal to us was approached by one of their agents. He certified his identity, we can be sure that he is one of them". Zhu listened to the last words of his deputy and then restarted his training, saying nothing. After some seconds of confusion, but afraid to disturb his superior again, the deputy quietly left. As his body went through another set of trained exercises, Zhu started meditating about what he had just been told.

April 1st, 1999

Mother One, Black Forest, Germany

Eva Johannes was looking beneath a large reinforced window at an alien weapon that was mounted on a support in test range. The brown and red pistol suddenly fired itself, releasing a green bolt that hit a blackened wall. She then turned to one of the monitors who were displaying the information received from the energized particle detectors. She just shook her head in disbelief. Turning to Doctor Chevereux, who was also present, she said: "Plasma. All of this just to get some plasma!"

"It merely confirmed our suspicions that were based on the description of the beam the weapons emitted and the physical results of the discharges, Doctor".

"How could we have over missed it, Doctor Chevereux? It was that simple!"

"In reality it still isn't. We now have an idea of how the weapons use the Elerium to generate the plasma or how they manage to contain it and direct it. Or even how they use it to move their craft. On the first aspect they most likely are a result of the matter-antimatter mutual annihilation reaction but in the second we are still left in a blank".

"Meaning more months of experiments". And more frustration to come, she added mentally. 

"Yes, results just don't materialize themselves on thin air and land at to our desks".

Air? Traveling? Something connected at her head. "What did you said Doctor?"

"That we must continue our efforts, let's just hope they don't decide to cut the funding for this also".

"No, something about air"

"Results don't appear out of nowhere and land were we wanted them, or something like that"

"That's it!" The missing piece that was eluding them!

"Excusez-moi, doctor? Can you please explain what are you saying?"

"During my stay at Area 51 I contacted with several of the troopers involved in the assault of a two-story UFO near the North Pole. I asked him about the things he had seen working inside the UFO and if there was anything peculiar, but he couldn't remember at the moment anything. But one day I heard him commenting about the lifts the aliens used and his surprise about it. They had no moving parts and that an invisible force elevated the passenger. The trooper said that he simply moved in the air and stopped afterwards".

"What is your point, Dr.?" 

"Moving, landing. What's the name of the force on Earth that attracts everything to the ground?"

"Gravity?" Dr. Chevereux thought for a minute and added: "You mean the elevator was an anti-gravity device?"

"And now think about the raid on Coventry. Commander Illyuschenko reported that when the UFO's engines stopped he suddenly could feel the inertia of the craft, something that did not happen while it was moving airborne, because the anti-gravity effect counteracted Newton's laws of movements, that state that a reaction has a counter-reaction".

"An anti-gravity device? The Elerium can generate an anti-gravity field? That would explain how the craft moves or how their weapons control the plasma discharge, but how?"

"Like you said, Dr. Chevereux, we need to do some more testing".

"Yes, unfortunately the research priorities have been changed". He took a resigned look, of someone who had dealt with such situations for many times.

"What? What do you mean? We can't have gone this far to stop everything now!"

"The report from the Council of Funding Nations came this morning and I wished it was an April' Fools Day joke. Many nations are complaining of UFO activity within or close to their borders with no response from X-Com's forces. As a result, they have decided to reduce their contributions and the money we have is simply not enough to cover all our expenses. Scientific programs have been put into a low-priority with the majority of the funds going to cover military deployment costs".

"The Secretary General and the Commander must be insane! You can't allow this to happen Doctor!"

"I supported their decision. The troops are well prepared now to deal with the aliens. We need to deploy them or the cuts will affect us more next month and might even lead to this whole operation being cancelled. I have lived through hundreds of budget constrains and know that if we don't present results, the Council will cut more. Legislators are a funny kind of people doctor. They tend to think more in practical matters than in the long-term".

"What are we to do then?" She felt defeated.

"You will continue with the Elerium research, but at a minimal funding. But most of the staff on the project will be redirected to other areas. We need know to find more about the aliens in order for the military to be able to decipher their intentions and plans".

"But we are this close, Doctor. Remember your words when we started? Elerium is the key to the stars". The older scientist looked absent for a minute and then he replied.

"That might not be so, Dr. We still don't know how or if it's used to transport to travel through speeds faster than light. Zeta Reticuli, the system where the alien claims its species was born, is a long way from here and, most likely the craft we have seen can travel through planets but not out of our solar system. It would take them took long although some recent discoveries archeological discoveries suggest that they might be watching us for a long time".

"The theory that the aliens must have a base inside our solar system to support their operations. Yes, I have seen the conclusions of the…. interrogation made to the alien also."

"Yes. Interesting how we are seen as guinea pigs by them, but not pleasant at all". He checked his watch and said afterwards: "I need to be going Dr. Please continue with your testing and notify me immediately if you come up with any interesting report".

"Of course, Dr. Chevereux". And I will get them, she ordered herself. 

April 7th, 1999

Pacific Ocean 

The nuclear powered Los Angeles class attack submarine USS La Jolla was traveling at a speed of six knots on her three-day trip from the Hawaii Islands to her pier at San Diego Naval Base. Most of the journey had been uneventful so far, and, besides a group of whales migrating and some merchant ships they hadn't had any contact in the first two days of the trip. Since they were close to the US Coast, the sub skipper had decided to go to the surface and allow his men to get some fresh air and sun, taking advantage to the rather unusual weather conditions. The captain had also decided to go outside and had been on the top of the submarine's sail for nearly half an hour when the intercom started working.

"Captain, Sonar. We require your presence down here sir. We have just picked a strange sonar echo on the passive sonar".

"Nature of the contact?"

"Unidentified sir. It is underwater and moving at an impossible speed".

"I'm coming down". He dropped on the hatch built on the floor of the tower that was built on the top of the submarine, grabbed one of the rails and started going down. After less than a minute he reached the sonar room where two technicians were very occupied.

"Ensign Rollins, what's the range to the target?"

"43 nautical miles sir. But we first detected it more than sixty miles away".

The captain did some mental calculations and frown his face. For the contact to have closed that distance it meant that it was navigating at a speed never seen on a submarine. Unless it was not a sub. He recalled the top security orders he had received months ago. 

"Is the sonar signature completely unknown to our databank?"

"Yes, I've triple-checked it already. And the noise we are picking up is very strange; it doesn't quite fit the usual transistent signal. It doesn't sound like mechanical parts working but more as if it's a whale, but in this case it would be a whale with a metallic skin". The senior sonar technician looked completely puzzled and shrank its shoulders. Something on the earphones caught his attention and he looked at the data monitors in front of him, even more astonished with what he saw. "Sir it just suddenly stopped, but I mean a full stop. And it's moving again right now but changed its course. It's not heading toward us anymore but going on a course zero-four-seven. Have you ever heard of anything like it captain?"

The Captain remembered his instructions. They were very precise on this point. "It must one of the Russian new submarines that they are testing right now, according to the CIA". 

If the technician even detected that his commander was telling a lie, he didn't even showed it also when he replied: "This close to our shore?!"

"Keep tracking it. And if you have not figured it out yet, gentlemen, what you are seeing is classified. You may never discuss this with anyone else or you will spend the rest of your careers on a federal prison!"

Both non-commissioned officers immediately turned stiff and replied: "Yessir!" 

"Inform me of any changes on his present course, I will be in the communications room". He didn't even bother to hear their reply as he was already thinking of a way to put the incident into words.

Santa Cruz, California

Going on night shift at the local radio was always hell for the disk jockey on was assigned to it. And Terry was just starting to feel what it was like, in his first night. First he thought that it would be good to not have anyone else looking at you to see if the newbie made any blunder. He almost wanted that someone would be shouting at him right now. Besides the technician on charge on the transmission gear of the station there was no one else on the top floor of a three-story office building where K-NUT transmitted. And there was nothing to do also, besides occasionally mumbling something into the mike just to wake up whoever would be up at this hour in the night trying to no fall at sleep at the wheel of the car and choosing the tracks that were being broadcasted.

At least the studio had a soundproof window in front of him that opened to the outside and provided a view of the shore and the Pacific Ocean. That helped out to not feeling also claustrophobic. But it didn't do much in helping the boredom of the place. Terry considered going over the technician to chat a little to see if it helped the time passed but when he looked to the booth where he usually sat, there was no one there. Probably went for a couple of coffee at the vendor on the corridor or to take a piss he figured. He looked at the monitor and noticed that the last song on the list was being played. Time to go to work again for some more minutes he thought, while starting to think what it would be broadcasted next. While he was going over the songs stored on the informatics system, his side view begun tracking something.

He first thought it was the Moon on her way across the sky, but his brain remembered that it didn't the Moon didn't travel that quick and also that its shape was never oval. He looked to the window and became absorbed in what he saw. Something bright was flying offshore in front of his eyes. He quickly jumped out of his chair and ran to the window. He wanted to open it but it didn't have a handle so after some seconds of search for one he just quitted and looked again. The oval thing or disk or whatever it was still kept moving from the left to the right, close to the shore. What the fuck was that, he asked? A voice asked behind of him.

"Hey! What are you doing? There's nothing playing on the air right now you moron!" The technician shouted at him from the door that connected the studio to his booth.

"There's something flying out there! It's a UFO or something!" Terry kept looking at the craft.

"What? A fucking UFO? " He moved to the window, and took a peek, but the UFO had already disappeared on the horizon. "Are you nuts or something? There's nothing out there! You must have been smoking some serious shit before coming to work!"

"I'm serious, it was big! We need to call the police! We need to report this on the air!"

"Christ! Wake up! Hello, wake up! What you need to do is to get some music playing right now, you idiot or you can be sure that I will report you tomorrow! Fucking rookie assholes!" The technician turned and went back to his booth, leaving Terry still searching for the now gone UFO. 

Area 51, Nevada, US

The hangar where the F-22 interceptor was parked was full of agitation, with technicians going over the craft and warning klaxons sounded in the dark metal walls. The organized chaos that had been installed was repeating itself on the other hangar next to it, where X-Com personnel was also preparing the second advanced fighter that the West team Base possessed.

On a room situated on the facility, Lt. Colonel Harris was finishing the final preparations on his flight gear, together with Captain Clark, both pilots having been called in by Colonel Johnson. When they both did the last checks they both turned to the West commander and waited in silence.

Johnson then started talking: "Ten minutes ago the US Navy detected an UFO underwater in the Pacific heading towards the US shore. It disappeared and the NORAD picked it up afterwards on a course that led it to San Diego. The radar track showed it to be one of their ships used for terrorist attacks". 

"What? Jesus!" Before both officers started bombarding him with questions, Johnson raised a hand to stop them. "It over flew San Diego and never launched any attack. Local authorities report no strange events in the area. The UFO just continued its course and is lurking around in the area. Current information puts him 10 miles off the city on Santa Cruz, California. To prevent any possible attacks, the Air Force is putting together a major operation to shoot it down. And you will be the spearhead of that offensive. The Alpha, Delta, Epsilon, Omega, Phi, Zeta and Kappa squads are already getting ready and boarding the Skyrangers, in case you fail".

Harris fought the urge to touch his face and almost raised his hand to do it. Revenge. Just show me the fuckers, every last one of them, he said to himself. Johnson seemed to pick something on the pilot, because he turned to Harris and said: "I share of your fears about that thing that is flying out there, but remember that this is a military operation! You will do as you are told or when you came back here you will be spending the rest of this operation cleaning up the toilets!"

"Yessir!"

"Just remember it! Now board your planes, you will get briefed on the plan when you're airborne. And good luck!"

Both pilots grabbed their flight helmets and left the room. When they entered the hangar, Clark turned to Harris and asked him and they were on their way to the planes. "Harris, you know what that last shit that the Colonel said was all about". The other pilot stopped and turned to Clark, moving his index finger to the scars on his temple. He then moved it over the other burned locations on his forehead, slowly rubbing them, to make sure that the younger pilot knew his point.

"Gosh! I'm sorry sir. I didn't mean to intrude…"

"Don't worry about it. Just remember to not get on my way when we're on the air". He then turned to his plane and started walking again, picking his pace. When he reached it he climbed the stairwell in the cockpit and jumped inside, locking himself to the ejection seat and putting his helmet. A couple of jacks coming out from it quickly found themselves into locations in the cabin, connecting him to the radio. He then connected is breathing apparatus and did the final checks. A technician came to the front of his craft waving a hand carrying red little flags and he nodded. His plane was ready. He keyed on his radio:

"Command, this is Comanche One. Ready to take-off. Over"

"Comanche, commenting launch procedures now". Suddenly the floor beneath the craft begun to raise it itself towards the top of the hangar. The overhead doors started opening and the lift slowly brought the craft up to the surface. Light greeted Harris, but he ignored it as he was starting his engines. When the elevator stopped the F-22 was standing in the middle of a sand-painted runway, with rotating lights coming out of their concealed locations to help him see it. Behind him the F-22 piloted by Clark had also come out of its hiding and was maneuvering to get himself being Harris. 

"Comanche flight, clear to take off. Climb up to angels twelve and maintain formation. Your heading is 294. Wait for Air Force instructions from the E-3C Sentry on the area".

"Comanche One, roger. Commencing take-off". Harris let go of the air brakes and applied almost full power to the engine. The F-22 slowly started to move in the hot tarmac and started to gain speed. When his airspeed showed it to be going over 150 miles per hour, Harris began pushing the control stick to him and the plane took-off, closely followed by Clark's. Both planes then reached their assigned altitude and started heading towards their target. 

Johnson and Major Patterson were also prepared to take-off, seated on a C-130 Hercules aircraft, together with the remaining Beta and Gamma squads. The thing wasn't as good as the EC-130E plane they were used to, but there was no way they could afford to buy it or even request it from the Air Force.

"Colonel, Captain Markovitch reports her Skyranger is ready to lift-off. Forrester hasn't finished their preparations but should be done any second.

"What's the status of Comanche and the other flights?"

"Comanche One and Two are already on their way to California. There's also a flight of F/A-18C Hornets on their way from Marine Corps Air Station El Toro, besides the flights of Air Force and National Guard's F-16s and F-15s fighters on their way coming from bases all over the West Coast. Northwestern Air Defense Sector at McChord AFB in Washington State is coordinating the counterattack".

"Do they have more air resources available?"

"The carrier Carl Vinson and his battle group had started two day ago their trip to their deployment to the Southern Pacific, but they are too far away to help. The Air Force will have more fighters available in some hours, but it might be too late".

"And on the ground?"

"One battalion of Marines ready at San Diego. And some California National Guard units can also assist us".

"Let's hurry up the preparations then. We need this thing on the air in case the fighters fail to stop the UFO. He when in the direction of the Hercules' back ramp door to help carrying the last remaining equipment inside the plane. 

Over Central California, US

Harris was remembering his first contact. The excitement and fear of approaching the alien craft. And the surprise and pain afterwards, the sudden rush of air into the cut cockpit of the Aurora, the frantic moments searching for the ejection handles before passing out. A voice brought him back: "Comanche Flight, this is Sentinel. Target is still airborne, near San Francisco. Keep your present vector. You are to fire at it at maximum weapon's range and then clear the area. The other flights will then engage, taking advantage of your discharges".

Harris looked at his weapons display. He was carrying four AIM-54 Phoenix missiles and Clark was loaded with two other Phoenixes and three AIM-120 Amraams, each group of weapons split between his two weapons' bays, right in the intersection between the F-22's body and wings. Usually it would take two or three Phoenixes or Amraam's to take one of the Celtic cross type but the craft that was over the Pacific was much larger. Although it would have been better to load a full AIM-54 Phoenix set on both wings, there simply hadn't been enough time. But he preferred that way. Better to keep things close and personal. 

Pacific Ocean

Further up north, a flight of four F-15A Eagle interceptors from the 123rd Fighter Squadron of the Oregon Air National Guard were circling, waiting for Comanche flight to make their attack run. The leader, Major Armstrong, was afraid. So far he hadn't ever heard of any exercise that consisted of scrambling all the fully armed, alert-status planes at the base and have them wait off the American Coast. Another thing that told him that something big was up was the amount of air traffic he could hear on the military and civilian channels. He recognized some of the call signs. They belonged to air defense fighter units all over the Pacific states. And even more disturbing was the regular air traffic channels. All civilian flight operations had been cancelled on the Bay Area and the airline pilots were giving hell to the controllers, being forced to find alternate airports. That could only mean that there was some immediate danger, most likely in the form of a hostile attack. But who would be nuts enough to make an air strike against the continent US or even have the resources to do it? The threat looked as if it was coming from the Pacific, which meant that either they would have an aircraft carrier lurking around or it had long-range bombers. The Russians? The Chinese? Has World War III started all of a sudden?

California-Nevada border, US

The noise of the C-130 almost made it impossible for Johnson to hear the radio or Patterson's voice. He waved for him to stop and said: "Say that again?"

His executive officer raised his voice to be heard. "Both Skyrangers are halfway to the Bay Area. Air Force is about to attack the UFO".

"Think they are going to make it?"

"Your guess is as good as mine, Colonel. It depends on the offensive and defensives capabilities of that thing. We know it also carries plasma beams like the smaller UFOs. We just don't know what they are capable of".

"And we on the ground, are we ready?"

"The whole company is ready sir. Army and Marine forces are ready to deploy, but the location of the possible attack will determine for long we will have to wait for assistance".

"Let's hope we don't need them and that this all ends on a deployment drill".

Central California, US

The UFO was going steady, some 110 miles away from Comanche Flight. Harris noticed that it seemed to be just cruising, maintaining the same course and a low speed. The APG-71 radar situated on the nose of the F-22 suddenly started picking the craft and it started tracking it. Checking with Clark to certify that he had also a lock, he then contacted the E-3C Sentry that was monitoring the situation. 

"Sentinel. This is Comanche Flight, we have the bandit locked".

"Comanche flight acknowledging your status. Weapons are free, engage at your discretion".

"Sentinel, this is Comanche One. I got a tone on the target. Phoenix is locked and ready. Firing now! Fox Three!" The left weapons bay opened and the missile dropped out of its releasing mechanism, dropping for a bit more than a second before its engine blasted. The guidance system received the information from the F-22's radar and started guiding it towards the UFO. After the second Phoenix was launched the hydraulic doors closed again and both missiles were soon racing over Mach five to their target. 

"Sentinel, Comanche One. Both missiles are on their way!"

"Sentinel, Comanche Two, I got a malfunction on my left bay. Only fired two missiles".

"Comanche Flight, get clear and remain close to the area until further orders".

As Harris push the stick towards him and to the right to clear the area, he looked at his radar screen, focusing on the echo's sent by the four missiles and the UFO and ignoring the swarms of fighters that were trying to take advantage of his salvo to get into range to also release their missiles. One of the dots started going slowly off target, and after it lost target lock it self-destructed, the blip disappearing off the scope.

The other three Phoenixes hit the UFO. Harris monitored its speed and bearing, but it seemed that it hadn't been enough to bring it down. Then he started noticing the other blips approaching the craft. Four flights of F-15As, F-16Cs and F/A-18Cs were approaching the UFO from all different locations. Since the planes couldn't carry the Phoenix missile, they would have to come closer than 50 miles to be able to launch their AIM-120A Amraam and AIM-7M missiles. Harris knew it could be a dangerous trick. Inside that distance he had been several times been shot at by the UFOs.

Checking the altitude, course and airspeed, he then turned its eyes back into the radar screen and changed the radio into the general channel.

"Sentinel, Cobra Flight, twenty more miles to weapon's range. Target is slowing down."

"Air Flight, engage at maximum range. If bandit opens fire start taking an evasive approach to the target"

"Sentinel, an evasive what? This isn't Second World War anymore where you zigzagged while on an attack run! Repeat last order please".

"Sentinel…"

"Oh my God! Jesus Christ! Cobra Three is hit! I repeat, Cobra Three is hit! I just saw a flash and his F-15 exploded afterwards!"

"Bear Two is also down! He managed to eject! Request search and rescue immediately!"

"How are they tracking us? There's nothing on my threat detector!"

"Commencing evasive maneuvers! Wildcat One is down!"

"Sentinel, Cobra Two, I got a lock and I'm firing now! Fox Two!"

Harris looked at the screen and ignored the calls made by the pilots while launching their missiles. Nearly half of the attacking fighters had been downed already. It seemed that the plasma beam it carried had more range and was more powerful than the ones of the smaller UFOs. 

Pacific Ocean

Major Armstrong couldn't believe what was going on. Before Sentinel had given them the order to fire on the bandit, the damn plane they were chasing had already downed two F-15s of his flight. Both pilots had been immediately killed in the explosion that engulfed their planes, with no chance of bailing out. What was that thing on the air and what was it shooting? Nothing could be seen, not even the smoke trail of the enemy's missiles or whatever he used while they headed out for his flight's planes.

He had launched his four AIM-7M Sparrow missiles and was keeping a steady course to the bogey, since the missiles required guidance from his APG-63 radar until they reached their target. Which made the whole situation extremely risky, since he basically couldn't maneuver or break away, unless he wanted to loose control over the weapons. 

Another plasma bolt blew his wingman's plane, transforming it in a mass of fire, metal and plastic. He almost went into panic but he then saw that his missiles were about to hit the bandit. Take that you fucker. Then another blast from the UFO consumed the cockpit of the F-15 and his body, before his mind could even take notice.

California Coast

Harris also saw the impact of the missiles on his radar screen. The four Sparrows converged on the larger blip and hit it, their radar echo's disappearing at the same time. But the UFO continued its flight, as if it were an elephant being stung by mosquitoes. As the last missiles launched from the surviving fighters hit the craft, Harris swore in frustration, seeing that almost a score of pilots and planes had been sacrificed for nothing. In spite of multiple missile hits, the UFO was still flying on the air, some seventy kilometers to the northwest of his position. And the last remaining fighter planes were trying to close in, this time taking evasive maneuvers to avoid the plasma beam destructiveness and long-range. They only had their short-range Sidewinder missiles and cannons now and most likely they would achieve nothing. Harris looked at his weapon's board. He still had three AIM-120Cs on the other weapon bay. Keying the radio button on the control stick with his index finger, he already knew what he had to do. "Sentinel, this is Comanche One. Requesting permission to re-engage and fire my remaining missiles". 

"Comanche, negative on that. We are recalling the remaining fighters. We can't afford to lose more men and aircraft".

"Damn it Sentinel, if that thing lands a lot of civilians will be killed!"

"Orders came from National Command Authority and Wolverine Command. Combat troops are already deploying to possible attack locations. Your orders are to return to base". 

So, Colonel Johnson and the President are ordering us to retreat, while that thing is still flying and preparing to launch a terrorist strike at a city. Making some mental calculations he estimated that the UFO had been hit by at least a dozen missiles. It probably had been hurt, since it had reduced more its speed and had made now a couple of erratic turns.

"Sentinel, this is Comanche One. Your last transmission was garbled. I repeat, I failed to receive your last transmission. I don't know if you are hearing this, but I'm reengaging the craft". His mind made up, Harris turned the F-22 until it was pointed to the direction of the UFO. 

"Comanche One, negative! Break off this minute!"

"I still can't understand you Sentinel. My radio receiver must be malfunctioning. Engaging now". Ignoring the angry voices on the channel, he turned the volume down and concentrated on the Terror craft in front of him. The Television Camera Set, a device developed for the F-14 Tomcat long-range interceptor that allowed the pilot to track at large distances and display a television image of a large contact in the pilot's monitor, picked up the craft in front of him and displayed its image for a few seconds, until Harris threw the plane into a sharp turn out of instinct. A couple of seconds later, a plasma bolt flew by him, missing his plane by narrow yards. "Shit!" Harris cursed. He made another turn to put the F-22 back into attack position and checked the distance to the UFO. Sixty more miles to go, and the thing seemed to have put all of its defense system against him, forcing him to take some more high-g turns while the green bolts flew across the sky, the plasma disappearing itself after some more miles after the charged particles dispersed themselves and interacted with the oxygen on Earth's atmosphere, turning it into ozone. 

Harris kept checking the decreasing distance between his F-22 and the UFO and when he was inside the Amraam's range, he took some more maneuvers to get him closer. He was already under the 35 mile mark and wanted to get closer to assure a kill, but something on his screen changed his plans. The UFO was increasing speed and pretty soon it would outpace his F-22. "Oh, no you don't!" he spouted, and aligned the plane to launch his missiles. The radar switched modes from searching to tracking and pretty soon the computer was feeding the necessary data to the missiles' guidance systems. A low whine come over his headphones telling him that the weapons were locked on target. Not bothering to issue a warning he simply fired his remaining missiles, which dropped in a synchronized sequence from his open weapons bay and quickly made a left roll after the last one was on its way to the UFO. 

The Terror Ship in front of him was trying to leave the area, by increasing power to its anti-gravity propulsion system, but the previous missiles already injured it. It fired a couple of shots at the incoming missiles as a last-resort measure to stop them, but it failed. Harris aligned the F-22 as the Amraam's were close to reach the UFO and watched it through the TCS system mounted on his plane.

The gray fuselage of the circular UFO had been already blackened in some places, as result of previous hits. And smoke was coming out of one of the compartments attached to the main body where the doors where located.

The first Amraam hit the UFO on the section that connected the circular body to the "wings". The explosion obscured the video image being displayed on Harris central monitor and prevented him from seeing where the other missiles hit the target. But the end result was pretty obvious. The UFO started spinning on the air, due to the failure of one of its engines that left the whole craft with too many power on one of its sides. The alien crew tried to correct it, but the power plant that was unbalancing the craft suddenly overloaded as the amount of power it released was being elevated to compensate for the failure of the engine on the opposite end of the craft. Harris saw a sudden explosion on the main body that shook the entire craft, with the matter-antimatter reaction carving a hole on the bottom of the craft, while simultaneously wrecking the two remaining engines and leaving the UFO powerless. Without the power of Elerium to counteract the effects of Earth's gravity it simply dropped down on the air like a rock. Harris kept tracking it until the radar blip finally disappeared on the waters of the Pacific. He then turned on his radio again and spoke. 

"Sentinel, this is Comanche One. Bandit is down. I repeat bandit is down. Gimme a course to get back home". While he waited for the surveillance plane to reply he took pleasure on the turning down of the fire that was raging inside him just minutes before.

Situation Room, White House, Washington DC, US

General Thompson put down the phone and turned to President Winston. "I just contacted the Navy commander in charge of the Search and Rescue operations. So farthey only managed to retrieve three of the shot down pilots".

"How many still missing?" Winston felt sorrow for the lost of so many men, but the alternative could have been much worse.

"Only two. Of the twelve fighters shot down by the UFO, Sentinel registered that five had managed to bail out of their planes. They will continue their search operations. And they have also recovered one Sectoid body that was floating on the water". 

"Better if they retrieve also all wreckage belonging to the UFO crash. We can't afford that fishermen or someone at the beach discovers an alien body floating on the ocean". The DCI commented. Winston nodded in comply and asked to his Press Secretary: "What is the media saying?"

"We have pictured it as an exercise to test our air defense force capabilities over the Pacific Coast". 

"Word has also been leaked to the papers through unknown military sources that it was also a test of a advanced plane. We are officially denying it, of course. I suggest we keep some planes up on the air for the past days, exercising and also inviting the media to attend the exercises, sir". Mark Casper had approved the Intelligence's team's proposal of disinformation and had forwarded it to the President for final approval. While Winston wasn't fully briefed on the plan, to protect him in case the whole thing went public, he knew and understood the necessity of keeping a tight lid on the existence of the aliens.

"Very well. Has X-Com been able to determine why the craft stood that long offshore?"

"The assessment team thinks it might be making some reconnaissance before attacking. However, the approach method it used is usually made on a surprise attack, going underwater where our detection abilities are far lower than on the air. No one simply knows what where the alien's intentions, sir". The President looked at the Chairman of the JCS, his top military adviser.

"General Thompson, what do you propose?"

"Mr. President, the Navy could start a 24 hour surveillance of our seaboard. While they suffered cutbacks on the area of submarine warfare, we still have assets that can be deployed, such as attack submarines and surveillance ships". 

"I will sign the orders immediately then". He finally moved into the American Representative to the X-Com Council. "I would like to know also the name of the pilot that shot down the UFO. He needs some sort of award for it". 

Area 51, Nevada, US

When Johnson had learned about Harris actions' and how he had directly ignored a superior order, he immediately called the pilot to his office to have a small chat with him. Harris more than likely knew why he had been ordered to attend to the Colonel's office, but as he opened the door and entered, the pilot showed no sign of being bothered for it. He stood up in attention and said: "Lt. Colonel Harris reporting as ordered, sir".

"At ease! I suppose you know the reason for this meeting?" 

"I take it to be directly related to my actions this morning". 

"Mr. Harris, let me tell you what I got here in front of me on my desk". He pointed with his hands to the papers in front of him. "I have a transcript of the communications between you and the Sentry. And I also have a letter for the US President thanking X-Com for its efforts in protection of American lives and expressing his sincere admiration at the X-Com who shot down the UFO". Tell me, should I be pleased or should I be pissed off?!"

"I did my duty, sir. That thing flying over there was a menace"

"That thing over there was a menace all right, but this is not the place where you can fight your own little war! You had orders, mister and you chose to ignore them over some personal vendetta! Can you imagine what he would suffer if we lost half of our interception capabilities if you plane was shot!?"

"Sir, I ignored the chain of command because my superior officers were making a wrong decision!"

"The wrong decision was yours mister! In fact, I even doubt you thought about it!"

"Colonel, I knew exactly its capabilities and exactly how to strike. All of my moves were planned and I knew the enemy's tactics and forces available. And as you can see, I was successful". 

"Indeed Colonel, and that's why you are not being canned for this little trick of yours. The letter also says that they are considering you for the Silver Star for your actions and you will certainly receive it later although I oppose it. Meanwhile, I want a full report by tomorrow of your actions and the UFO's capabilities and also a complete rethinking of our aerial tactics according to this information. Is that clear?" Harris knew he would have to spend the whole night awake doing it, but at least the Colonel wasn't grounding him. He replied affirmatively and was dismissed by Johnson. When he got outside and was on his way to his quarters he almost bumped into Captain Markovitch as he turned a corner. He immediately recoiled back and apologized.

"Sorry Captain. I wasn't thinking in what I was doing"

Markovitch dropped from her position of full alert and replied: "Don't worry about it Colonel, no harm was done. By the way, congratulations for your actions today!"

Harris winced and adding some irony to his voice while he said: "Thank you. Unfortunately the commander doesn't feel that way. Let me ask you something Captain: you have served with the Colonel before. Did he always have this attitude of being the guy that does everything by the book?"

Markovitch made a little smirk to him and answered back: "I know what you are saying Colonel. I will have a little talk to him.

"Good luck. From what I've seen so far, you will need it, Captain". He nodded and started to walk again. Markovitch replied and thought for some seconds. She then turned to the direction of Johnson's office and headed towards it. Upon reaching it, she knocked and Johnson replied: "Enter".

She got in and saluted. Johnson raised its eyes from the amount of paperwork he had in front of him and said: "What is it Captain? I'm very busy at the moment and I have already congratulated you on the readiness of your team".

"I know Captain, but I need to talk about something else, Johnson". He stopped what he was doing and made a face of being terribly annoyed. "Let's not bring this matter again, shall we Markovitch?!"

"I'm not talking about that, Colonel. I'm talking about your attitude of giving the hell over Harris because of what he did today. He's a damn hero and you condemned him because of his actions!"

"The guy acted irrationally and didn't measure the possible consequences!"

"He took a risk Johnson! But a calculated risk!He didn't wait for the tacticians down here to analyze it over weeks, he made a combat decision! You should be thanking him for President Winston not be cutting right now to X-Com's funding, which could be happening right now if they had launched an attack".

"He ignored the chain of command and risked his dumb ass and a plane worth millions of dollars that we can't afford to loose!"

"And saved the life of thousands of civilians! Who, if everything had gone over the book or caution would be dead by now!"

"What's your point Captain?"

"You are when you say that the only thing that we have on the same level as this aliens is intelligence and we should use it. Otherwise we are nothing more than hairless apes going against them. But you are also forgetting that you can't predict everything. And that sometimes is better to charge if you feel the sudden urge to do it". 

"If there's a rule then it's because there's a damn good reason for it!"

"But if what no one ever thought about it? Or if it made you act against everything you thought and believed, Johnson? What would you do then?" He was about to speak but stopped at her last words.

"See what I mean, Johnson? Sometimes you forget to let go, to ignore all the questions and just do. And you condemn other people for doing it. That's why we had all those discussions before over military matters when I was under your command. And that's why you never understood and accepted that I wanted to join the 82nd. Think about it". She turned and left and Johnson wanted to say something but couldn't possibly think about what to say. He decided to turn back to his paperwork and leave it for later when he recovered. 

April 15th, 1999 

Highway 50, Maryland, US

Williams was just finishing his coffee at the diner located at the highway that connected Washington to Maryland when Davis entered the establishment. Looking at his watch, he saw that Davis was half an hour late on their meeting. The FBI agent looked all over the place at the few customers that had to be up for whatever reason at this hour in the morning. Detecting no danger, he then walked over to Williams's table and sat down on a chair. "Good morning" he said. 

"Good morning? Where have you been? You are half an hour late".

"I stayed outside hidden to see if anyone had followed us. Nothing like triple checking to be safe".

Williams was surprised and continued: "OK. Next time just warn me so that I can bring the paper or something to kill the time. Any progress?"

Continuously looking at everyone who was in the dinner, with his eyes changing direction every few seconds, he replied: "I got about half a dozen suspects, but I doubt it, although I have them on surveillance just to be sure".

"Someone important?"

"No big names. Almost all of them are regular investigators. No, they are small fish".

"But still be careful. You heard about the possibility of hybrids infiltrating our society?"

"Yes. Are my men looking for hybrids?" He fixed his stare on Williams. 

"I have reason to believe that the conspirators might be using them. Be very careful, from what I've been reported they can be quite fast".

"I will tell that to my men. I have already informed them about the alien situation although I've kept myself quiet about all the rest". 

"Good. Watch out for yourselves".

"We will". He looked again at Williams and said: "I take it that the brain washing deception factory is going quite well. From what I've heard, the delegations of the Bureau all over the country are starting to receive calls from concerned citizens about how a Neo Nazi conspiracy is about to try to throw the country through the use of stolen advanced weapons. That's one of the craziest things I ever heard on my life but I used to thought the same about UFOs".

"We just took advantage of the television focusing on the incidents up in California and the extreme-right militias and patriot groups that appeared making warnings about the alien menace".

"And now you have the Secret Service going nuts every day because of the fights in front of the White House between them and the idiots who hold rallies supporting the aliens".

"Two bunches of lunatics fighting one another on the evening news makes everyone else think that this whole matter is just crazy stuff". The media was having a field day with the confrontations between both groups in Washington and other cities and a set of rumors disseminated by the intelligence team had sparked all kind of weird rumors, distracting attention from the aerial fight over the Pacific. 

"Yeah, whatever. Just remember me never to give my vote to you on any election if all of this works".

April 20th, 1999

Unknown facility, unknown location, US

Every time Number Three came to the secret installations of the Group at the United States he felt a natural repulsion about the place. Too many things here stank of the alien presence and he had never become accustomed to the place. Still he knew that the future of mankind and of his position laid here, although the thought wasn't too comforting. He wondered if Number One knew about that and had specifically called for the reunion at this facilities, in order to put himself on a strained position. The old fool must be too clever or too stupid to do that, he considered, but then he realized that he couldn't tell from both choices. It didn't matter, he concluded to himself, since everything was already set up in motion and nothing could stop it.

"The Americans are acting to counter your own deception. Their intelligence group has proven itself to be quite resourceful". So this is from where the hostilities begun, Three said to himself, before answering back.

"Those are close to desperate attempts to regain control of public opinion. In the end they will only contribute more to their own discredit. What is necessary is that we can control the team. I would assume it would have been already done by your part, since they would be fine material for recruitment, since those men are the ones who have the better, if grossly incomplete picture of everything".

Number One recoiled, furious that the other man had the nerve to question his own actions. Regaining control, he shot back: "That would pose as a very dangerous risk. They don't yet have the power necessary to be of importance to us and they are unreliable on terms of allegiance, since most of them don't appear to share of our motives"

"In that case, why aren't they being kept under a strict watch and control? If they are not with us, then they belong to the enemy". Don't escalate this anymore, or I will promise you that you don't know yet how far you can sink.

"They have too much independence from a chain of command. Ultimately, they are becoming analogous to us, starting to act on their own. We need to think of other ways to contain them, since they might suspect something if we keep a strict control over them". 

"As we know, that can be arranged. But they are not dangerous to us yet. And if they become, we will provoke their fall and take care of any survivors that might exist. One way or the other they are ours to crush".

April 22nd, 1999

Times Square, New York City, US

What a shitty job I got, Blake thought as he was looking at the crowd gathered at Times Square on their way of making a rally against the alien invasion. Nevada had turned up into nothing and since he had took the journey on its own, he wouldn't get any reimbursement for his expenses. Worse yet, his next vacancies would be way too long now, since he had taken a week off to personally investigate Area 51.

His queries had left to nothing. First it had taken him days just to get a phone number of the base, with all federal and state agencies denying even the existence of the installation. He finally got through it by telling some innocent lies but even that had left into a dead end. The person who had answered the phone on the other end ignored his request to talk to Colonel Johnson and asked before saying or acknowledging anything for his identification. He eventually hang up upon seeing that Blake was just trying to fish for information. And a few minutes afterwards a police car stopped at the gas station where Blake had made the call. When he noticed them from the diner's where he was having breakfast he realized he had hit the jackpot, but that I was useless since there still was no confirmation for Johnson's presence at the base.

But something was going on Area 51 for sure. He had driven his rented car into the base's limits, eventually finding the road used by the military personnel. But after some minutes of hanging around in the area to see if he could detect any movement an unmarked jeep had appeared down the highway. They had parked close to him and two soldiers wearing Air Force insignias had come out of the vehicle. They asked him about his business in the area while keeping an aggressive pose. Blake made up an innocuous story to explain for his presence there, but they proceeded to warn him against staying in a classified area. Still he had managed to see a lot of night activity with jets being scrambled, although he only saw their lights far away. The place was too damn guarded to give away any of its secrets, he concluded after a week and decided to get back to NY.

Upon getting back at the newspaper, his editor had assigned him the task of covering the manifestations that where being held for and against the aliens. "Since you are already familiar to the matter", the bastard had said upon telling him his job for the next days, smiling. And one of the lamest things I've ever done he thought.

The crowd was being restrained by police barriers in one of the sidewalks on Times Square and was making a lot of noise. The state troopers didn't know exactly what to do so they just stood around trying to make a pose as calm as possible while the protesters waved signs against Nazism and a Police State and defending Personal Freedom. Fishing out a notebook out from the inside pocket of his leather jacket he moved towards the crowd, which he noticed was about to turn itself into an angry mob. Looking up he saw the reason for the commotion: in one of the electronic billboards on Times Square an ad was just going through about the new movie Hollywood had decided to put up by 4th of July. Independence Day, or how ET had decided to take Earth on the Nation's Founding Day. Ironical, he thought before noticing the leader of the protesters, a well-built man with brown hair cut in a military style. Pushing through the crowd he approached the individual.

"Hi. I'm working for the NY Times. Could you please tell me what this is all about?" The man looked at him with suspicion and was about to ignore him until Blake added, while going for his wallet: "I can show you some ID to prove who I am".

"Don't bother". He said in an icy voice. "It doesn't matter if you are who you claim. You are nothing but a puppet at their hands". 

"I'm sorry, whose hands are those?" He immediately took the cap off his pen and started writing.

"The ones who are trying to install the New World Order. The ones who are trying to limit our freedom and manipulate our minds through the use of propaganda like that". He pointed at the screen that was now giving out some other commercial.

"You don't believe in UFOs?"

"By the contrary, we quite believe on them. But the government knows what they are about. They made them and are using them to blind our perception. The new millennium is coming and they are getting ready to install their new order". 

Blake immediately saw the whole picture: another group of people that had decided after the Waco massacre that the Federal government was after them. That and the hype surrounding the coming of 2000. "And what is that new order you are constantly talking about?"

"The one imposed by the new fascists, that are hiding right now on these towers of oppression and in the government under the disguise of Republicans or Democrats. They will take away all our freedoms and make us slaves, but we won't even notice it. There are no aliens. There is only a deception to make us believe they exist and that they are threatening us, so that we abdicate of our liberties under the pretense of false war". He grabbed his speaker and started shouting: "Say no to the false prophets! Say no to the New World Order and their lackeys!" The crowd imitated him and kept shouting at the NYPD personnel in the area who where know looking at one another without knowing exactly what to do. The mob begun gesturing aggressively at the policemen and Blake decided to leave the area, or at least watch the predictable confrontations from a safer place. When he detached himself from the protesters he saw police vans already appearing and unloading agents equipped for riot control. As he watched them deploy he was already starting to compose his article for next day's edition. But something kept troubling him. 

April 25th, 1999

White House, Washington DC, US

The briefings at the White House were starting to scare Williams, the hairs on the back of his head raising up as he went through the corridors that led into the Situation Room. Everything pointed out that the infiltrators should be men occupying considerable power positions in US government and most likely at least one of the military and civilian officers present at the meetings was related to the whole cover-up. And most likely that person was watching him closely to see how far he got to the truth. Even if he hadn't discovered that a conspiracy was in progress he would be in danger, he concluded, which sent shivers down his spine.

But who? Going through the painting of past US presidents he considered if any of them knew about the whole alien situation. Hell, even Winston is not out of the whole possible lot, he thought. That would make it one of the most cynical and cruel bastards ever born on this planet if that was the case. But in any case he was going to leave the White House after next year's elections, being on his second term of office. Could any of the most likely Republican and Democrat candidates be it? Vice-President Longstreet had the better chances of being nominated by the Democratic Party, while on the GOP chances seemed that it would the present Governor of New York State, Charles Vaughn. None of then had a really long career in politics or intelligence affairs. Longstreet had been one of the Senators from Georgia before being elected with Winston right on his first term, while Vaughn had climbed up the steps in NY's State legislature until successfully running for Governor some years ago. The VP was constantly informed of the whole alien situation while Vaughn only had been told the minimum about the aliens, not knowing the full dimension of their actions or their intentions. If the guy gets elected he will probably think again if it was a good idea to run now for the presidency, for sure.

When he reached the door to the Situation Room he decided to concentrate again to the job now on his hands. The two Marine sentinels escorting the entrance opened it and he got inside. When he entered several civilians and military chiefs were already inside talking to themselves or sat at their places, going through some last minute information. He greeted several of them on his way to his place by the center table and sat, choosing not to talk to anyone but looking at them instead. 

A voice came from behind him "Anything new Williams?" The CIA man almost jumped on his chair but kept his calm as he got up to see the person who had talked to him. He saw his boss, the DCI looking back at him, waiting for an answer. 

"No, sir. I have no new data to present besides the information you have already seen". 

"Very well". Dropping his voice so that only Williams could hear him, he whispered: "The President knows not to ask about too much about the situation on the alien infiltration thing. He knows we are acting on it".

"Already taken that into consideration, sir". 

"Good. And see you start lightening up on this meeting. By this time you should have been accustomed to them". Williams tried to appear relaxed. "Yes sir. Thanks for the advice".

"Don't mention it. You are doing a hell of a job. Keep it that way". 

Thoughts screamed at Williams's head upon hearing that last sentence. Stop it! You are becoming paranoid and cannot think or act properly on that state. Then the President entered the room and the other officers took their places for the meeting to begin. Winston then said: "Let's be brief, gentlemen, since I have a meeting this afternoon to discuss this year's budget and the alien menace could look a piece of cake compared to it. Mr. Williams, if you please?"

Williams got his notes and the control remote for the video projector and replied: "Starting right now, sir. Starting with the shoot out at the California Coast, the Navy has begun underwater salvage operations of the UFO that was brought down in the Pacific. Initial findings have shown it to be manned by Sectoids and carrying also a cargo of their battle tanks and the usual type of weaponry they used. It is therefore reasonable to conclude that they were equipped to mount one of their terrorist strikes. The question remains of why they didn't do it and that interrogation can't be answered right now". Clicking on one of the buttons in the remote control, a picture of the UFO appeared in the wall left of Williams. "This is a television picture taken by the system's of the X-Com F-22 that shot it down. Although the whole incident was a military disaster, we have taken some lessons on how to approach and take down these craft. It can be done, but the question is if they have something even more potent, which in that case would mean that ours fighters wouldn't have a chance against it".

The four-star General that was Chief of Staff of the Air Force raised his hand and asked: "What's X-Com's situation on research of UFO propulsion and flying technology? Can they replicate it and make an UFO capable of fighting those things?"

"Not at the present moment sir. Research has discovered some things about how to replicate the materials used and the physics of the propulsion system but nothing on how the aliens navigate or control the craft".

"That is not good, we need to stop them before we land, while they are on their ships to cut down their numbers". 

"That leads me into the another problem I was going to pose, General". The military man motioned him to continue with his head and Williams went on. "In spite of our victories we haven't managed so far to slow down the activities of the aliens. So far, X-Com has monitored more that one hundred UFOs on these first months, with possibly many more going undetected. And the rate of growth of alien activity keeps going up. If it keeps going up pretty soon we wouldn't be able to deal with all their incursions and can only expect to hinder them as much as possible".

"Mr. Williams are you saying that we are doomed?" President Winston asked.

"No sir. The scientific personnel have speculated that the aliens must have a base on our solar system from which they are maintaining and controlling their attacks. We know that the Sectoids originally came from Zeta Reticuli although they later abandoned the system, so they now must be living in some other part of the galaxy. The point of all this is that, even at faster that light speeds a military command would have a tough time coordinating and maintaining such an attack. The supply lines would just be too long and the craft we've seen only appear to be capable of moving inside a star system. Otherwise it would take them too long even if they are in the nearest star system who is four light-years away from us.The question right now is of what exactly is that base:an installation on a planet or a huge mothership? In any case, for Earth to survive we need to find the location of that base and destroy it".

"That might be easy to say, Mr. Williams, but how do you know where it is and, more important, how do we get there and how we destroy it". The National Security Adviser, was on one of her days, Williams sighted to himself before concluding.

"Well, madam, although we have proven alien interaction with human societies through known History and probably going far back behind, it isn't here on Earth or we would have detected it because of its size. As for our nearest companion, the Moon, the Clementine probe did a sweep of his surface some years ago and it found no unusual ground formations. However, analysis of the UFO's trajectories in space shows it that the majority comes from the dark side of the Moon. Most likely they have a fleet operating there, but whatever there's a Mothership there remains to be seen. Also, the UFOs appear to be coming from other locations in the Solar System, although the astrophysicists are only making guesses right now".

"That hardly answers my question Mr. Williams. Even if we discover it, what are we going to do?"

"I don't know then Mrs. May. That's up for the military planners to decide. But what we need right now is to get more information, either by continuing research or by keep on interrogating captured aliens". 

_André Galvão, 2001_


	10. Fortune Reversals

X-Com - The Unknown Menace

X-Com – The Unknown Menace

Chapter Nine – Fortune Reversals

April 29th, 1999

New York City, US

When Blake put down the phone and made a final remark on his notebook, he thought of a way to make the whole thing presentable for his editor. So far he had the statements of ten witnesses and he could get more if he wanted but those should be enough. He had been right on following the story he had been told from a friend of his that had gone into a two week vacation to Cancun. While at first Blake was skeptical, since it could be first attributed to the amount of alcohol he had consumed that night, the friend had admitted he had taken a little too much tequila that night, but he swore that what he had seen was real. A few phone calls to Mexican UFO organizations and to other people who had been at the area when it happened confirmed that several lights had been seen over flying the tourist city. One of the witnesses, who was driving on the countryside, close to the city, even claimed to have seen a small gray creature in the middle of the highway before it ran away and disappeared. Blake wouldn't mention it to his editor or write about it though since there was no way to confirm it and sounded too unbelievable.

He got up and went to the desk where his editor was seated taking a call. When he put down the phone he asked to Blake: "What do you got Evan?"

"Phil, I have ten people with no relation between them and living all across the country telling me that they saw a group of UFOs at night two weeks ago in Cancun".

The man exhaled. "Another one of your ET stories? Give me a break and get me something more real, like a scandal or anything like it. Ever since the Kosovo war ended we haven't got any major news".

"I know. That's why I'm bringing this up to you. The military must be involved big time into this. There's something here they aren't telling us". 

His editor's face suddenly became all lit up but he suddenly winced and said: "You better had some proof of this or I'm going to get really pissed now!"

"Come to my computer, I'm gonna show you something". Both men walked to Blake's table. The reporter sat down and started using his computer. Launching his browser, he started navigating on the Internet. "What are you doing?" His editor asked. 

"Due to the nature of this material, I've kept it hidden over a dozen different locations on the Web. That way if someone tries to take it away they will have to do a lot of digging". He made a final click and said: "Where we go. Watch the screen!". He punched a command and the computer begun downloading and playing the file that contained the movie of the destruction of the Aurora. His boss become mesmerized and at the end asked: "Are you sure this isn't image manipulation?"

"I've shown it to a couple people who work at computer graphics and photography. They said this isn't a fake and that the object is really there. Moreover there's also an infrared and radar tapes on the event that came together. The Air Force had these taken by one of its reconnaissance birds and a fast one, never seen of".

"So you believe that this is military footage? Where this came from? Someone of your acquaintances down the Pentagon?"

"There's no trace of the sender in the paper's server logs. It simply arrived at my email box".

"How can you be sure of this footage here, Blake? This can just be a prank!".

"This is were my 'acquaintances at the Pentagon', like you put it, work for something. I've shown a clip of it to one of them. He went numb and immediately asked me where I got it". 

"Seemed impressed?" 

"Let's just say he advised me not to show it to anyone else or I might be in trouble later. Me and the Department of Defense, for allowing such top-security material to be hanging around in the Internet". 

"Why do you think you got it? Someone pissed at something at the DoD?"

"Most likely. There will be hell to explain at Washington about how this got out and that there might be unidentified craft over flying our country".

"OK. We'll do a half-page on this. Nothing too flashy on headlines or the paper's board will have my head".

"I can do my ET story after all?" Blake was surprised. 

"Yeah, but center it on the movie. Let's see what the Air Force says about this. Show it to me by Monday". Watching his editor leave, Blake wanted to tell him to take a hike, since it would mean work on the weekend, but he kept his mouth shut. 

April 30th, 1999

Geneva, Switzerland

"And thus gentlemen, the South African government upon appreciation of the reports brought to this council's attention and review has decided to cut back it's funding to the Extraterrestrial Combat Unit". Illyuschenko threw back his head in despair as the African councilmen made the final announcement in a long list of cutbacks already made by the other countries that supported X-Com. Nigeria had been the first, followed by China and some other countries mostly in the Southern hemisphere of the planet. And Illyuschenko already knew that this was coming, upon reading the provisional report made by his staff a couple of days ago about reported alien activity on Earth.

His men and planes had taken more than one hundred and fifty combat missions only in the first four months since the first base had been activated. They had succeeded in killing hundreds of aliens and dozens of UFOs while losing near one hundred troops, either killed or injured. And still it hasn't enough to convince most of the national representatives seated that they needed more funding. Some of the countries had expressed the idea of releasing X-Com's technological secrets, but the majority now seemed to against it. Hell, the majority was against every damn thing!

"What about the proposal advanced by the General Secretary to allow more countries into the Council?" In a last effort to raise their funding, both Illyuschenko and the leader of the UN had proposed allowing more nations into X-Com in order to allow them with more resources and money. The Indian representative turned and said:

"Yes. My country doesn't think that would be necessary or advisable".

"What are you talking about? We could use the help of some countries who are stable. I provided you all with a list. Asiatic nations like Thailand ou South Korea, the Scandinavian countries, others in South America. X-Com could really use their help". Another dead end, Illyuschenko thought. 

"You have failed so far to properly protect some of the nations who are seated here today Commander. It would not be wise to try to defend more of the planet now. If they bring down the nations who are seated on this room right now, the rest won't be able to do very much. X-Com should pay more effort to the ones who first invested on it".

"Mr. Councilman, my men are doing the best they can and dying at it while you sit here on your offices and do nothing else than to shuffle a paper occasionally so don't give me that talk!" Illyuschenko was already getting up to throw himself on the Indian councilman when the American councilman intervened.

"General! If I may?" His voice was strong and well placed, making Illyuschenko stop and sit back down again. "Please do". He threw himself backwards on frustration. 

"While my country recognizes X-Com's efforts and has even agreed to raise the funding, we don't appreciate one thing on this whole matter. The project seems to have turned itself into a large bottomless pit of money, sir. This month's report is highly unsatisfactory on that matter".

"Mr. Councilman, what do you expect me to do? I can't tell my men that they won't get the weapons they need because of some bureaucrat more concerned with numbers than their lives!"

"Commander, we all here understand your position. Try to understand ours. So far my country's contribution to this whole project has come close to more than six billion US dollars. That's a lot of money sir. If we want to keep this whole operation still a secret you need to get your finances back together. Otherwise we will terminate this whole project". 

May 4th, 1999

White House, Washington DC, US

"UFOs: Tax dollars at work or something else?" As soon as Winston finished reading the title and seeing the picture taken from the Aurora's disastrous reconnaissance run he knew that someone had screwed up big time. He completely ignored breakfast and kept reading. The story was not on the front pages of the paper fortunately, but what was there meant real trouble already.

"The Federal government might have a deeper interest than the official policy about Unidentified Flying Objects, according to the footage obtained by the New York Times.

The footage, taken by one US reconnaissance plane at a contemporary date clearly reveals the existence of a strange craft flying on the air at amazing speeds. The date of this occurrence isn't revealed neither the identity of the plane involved, but aeronautical experts have concluded that it must be one of the 'black budget' projects, probably the famous Aurora, whose existence as also been denied by the USAF. However, the question prevails, what is the object filmed? Neither of the experts could come up with a plausible explanation, besides it being either another 'black project' or a real UFO.

In any case, the craft is clearly the same as reported in another so called 'UFO observations', the latest of which apparently over flew the Mexican city of Cancun, prompting to many reports by American citizens who were on the area who identified it upon seeing the footage.

The main question is, then: what are the intentions behind the pilots of such advanced craft? What does the US Government know about it? Enquiries to official sources at the Pentagon denied any present involvement or research into this area, but the footage seems to show otherwise".

Winston had stopped reading then, having enough, and one hour later he headed towards the Situation Room. Looking at the National Security Council seated in front of him, he saw that some of them were still being informed of the whole crisis and were reading the paper's story. This was a major political disaster that would need a lot of explanations to do and a lot of work to still keep the whole thing a secret. They had to be able to do that. If word ever came out of the aliens' existence chaos would emerge and fighting the aliens would become even more difficult. 

"We need to control this disaster before it spreads. I have had already phone calls from Capitol Hill wanting to know what is going on in our skies. If this keeps going pretty soon Congress will start making enquiries about the subject. Gentlemen, I'm open to suggestions". 

The National Security Adviser asked to speak. "Sir, first I would say that we need the Bureau's Counter Espionage Division and the National Security Agency to see how was it possible for such a leak to have occurred. This material was Sensitive Contained Information, even more confidential than Top Secret". 

"Very well, Mrs. May. Where do you think we should start?"

"The information is even more secret than our Stealth planes research. We need to see who had access to it on our side but it won't be easy since the individual will know that we are looking for him and covering his tracks. But, of course there's also the possibility that the leak didn't occur on our side". Several of the military present in the room nodded their heads in consent.

Edward Polk, the Defense Secretary turned to her and questioned: "You suspect the leak was on X-Com?"

Her voice turned a bit colder. "That organization has no internal security. Although they ask us to run security clearances for prospect members that are US citizens there's no control whatsoever in the inside".

"They are a military force, not an intelligence agency or even the Red Army. You can't have controllers inside such a unit. The suspicion would drive them apart".

"Nevertheless, I believe that we ask for a reunion of the Council to specifically discuss the problem of internal security inside X-Com. This is something I would say the majority of the countries present would consider most adequate to discuss". 

"Commander Illyuschenko won't be pleased to have intelligence and security personnel going around. Even visits from the Representatives have to be arranged in advance". 

"We present it with something they can't refuse and propose that they form an Intelligence branch of their own. That way they will have more autonomy, although in practical matters we still will control what information we decide to pass into them so that we can prevent more incidents like these". She pointed at the paper and turned to the President, to see his reaction to the proposal. 

The President turned to the DCI to see his opinion. Mark Casper scratched his head and replied: "Well, the idea makes sense and would avoid coordination problems like we have been experiencing. They would be able to deal with the alien situation a lot more efficiently and independent in intelligence terms". Winston looked around to see if there were more ideas but, since no one replied, he finished the topic. "Very well. Mark, I want you to discuss with the rest of the Intelligence to see what we could provide them. Now back to the NY Times situation. What are we going to do about it?"

May 5th, 1999

Central Iowa, US

The two Skyrangers were flying in a loose formation, several hundred feet apart from one another. No matter what High Command said about sparing resources, Johnson still thought that they just couldn't cut back on operational deployment. Besides, it would be a complete waste to leave a platoon back on base sitting idly while the other one was risking itself to storm an UFO. Besides, it was a pleasure to have the old team, him, Markovitch and Patterson acting back together. The old team. That sure brought a lot of memories back. Johnson had met Markovitch on his old Army Aviation Regiment when she was assigned under his command. Patterson had come along on the way, in so many operational missions done together with the Air Force and he was the finest executive officer Johnson had ever served with. But then Sheila decided to leave after some time and I got inside the Green Berets, he remembered. I did what I had to do, he concluded. Yes, but was it the right thing to do? The thought troubled him for some minutes, until Major Patterson's voice cut in the radio. "Two minutes for touchdown. I say we keep the second Skyranger airborne and ready to give back up if we need it. Markovitch here doesn't' look too pleased at that thought".

"Copy that. Alpha, Epsilon and Beta squads prepare do deploy". After checking the power level of his laser rifle and found it fully charged, Johnson then put the safety off and got ready for the incoming fight, getting up from his seat and grabbing one of the harnesses attached to the sides of the plane.

The Celtic cross type saucer had been detected already over the Midwest, where it had stood for some minutes before setting down. The radar track showed it to have landed in a farm and the first Skyranger headed directly to the place, setting down in a small vegetable plantation. Two seconds before it hit the ground the rear ramp started to descend, the servo-hydraulic engines giving out a small whine.

Corporal Logan stood ready in front of the other men, ready to take point and be the first trooper to hit the ground. Trooper Sharpe of Beta Squad, who would cover the left side, while he had the duty of securing the right, was flanking him. Not a duty but more of a pleasure actually since he had volunteered for it. Manning and Deckard, the other troopers on Epsilon, were calling him nuts because of his suicidal instincts but he didn't care. Letting go of his rage was the only thing that kept him away the fear and revulsion he had of the monsters.

Not had the ramp fully descended and he was already running over it, much to the chagrin of Sergeant Grisham who barked at him a warning. Sharpe was trying to follow, surprised by the motion, but he touched the ground much faster than the other squaddie. He saw that the Skyranger had landed right next to one barn probably hoping to give some cover for the platoon. But there was something there.

A shape moved on the upper floor of the wooden building and slowly appeared behind a window, in no doubt trying to locate the human attackers. Logan immediately fired a round of automatic laser fire into the direction of the alien, but all the shots missed, burning through the wooden walls and leaving scorched marks on them.

The alien inside replied and two of the plasma burns hit the Skyranger's left engine but the armored shielding protected the turbojet inside. The third shot hit the cultivated floor right next to Logan, making him recoil backwards and spoiling his aim for his next salvo. The laser rifle discharges went harmlessly over the barn making him swear as he saw a large bulbous head carefully aim a plasma rifle at him.

The sound of an autocannon going on full auto suddenly erupted near him and his reaction instincts kicked in and he instantly projected himself to the ground. One high-explosive projectile flew and hit the window, wrecking the glass and splintering the wood around it. The blast was also sufficient to make the alien stumble backwards, but before the Sectoid hit the ground a second shot hit it square in the chest. The round exploded on impact and the alien was dismembered, the remains of the head and arms falling into the barn floor a moment after the rest of the body.

Logan looked around, but the remainder of the X-Com squad had already started to deploy phosphorous grenades that were covering the LZ with heavy, white smoke. He found himself without a sense of direction and unable to find the rest of his squad.

"Logan, get the fuck up! You are point man and this isn't a picnic!" Sarge Grisham's figure appeared in the middle of the smoke curtain. "Get your ass in the front and remember to leave some of the fun to us!"

The Corporal got up in haste and headed towards the direction where Grisham was pointing at, trying not to inhale the smoke but still coughing some times. Taking a quick dash he reached the other members of his squad who were by now standing against the wall of the barn. A grenade suddenly exploded in the middle of the confusion and smoke that had become the landing zone and one of the soldiers who were still disembarking suddenly screamed in pain, before shutting his mouth. The sound was muffled on Logan's ears, which were still recovering from the sound wave caused by the explosion. "Bug in the middle of the orchard!" Manning suddenly called after taking a look around the barn and started pulling autocannon fire into the middle of the fruit trees. 

"Logan, Deckard! Flush him out with the same treatment!" Both troopers reached for their belt and took out grenades. Setting them up for a short fuse they both nodded to one another before negotiating the corner.

The alien was using the trees to get some cover but the heavy fire from Manning's weapon was forcing him to be constantly on the move and not being able to fight back. The two grenades landed on both sides of the tree he was using for protection and a loud shriek was heard before they went off. The blast wrecked the base of the tree, making the upper section come down on the ground.

Johnson appeared by the team, together with Major Patterson. "Let's get moving! The UFO should be after the field!" Logan looked and started running towards the nearest tree. When he reached it he took cover behind it and looked around. The entrance to the barn was on his right side and on the left he could see the top floor of another farmhouse. No aliens lurking around in the windows though. Seeing that Deckard was moving around to his position and had the barn covered, he moved to the bush fence that was nearly as tall as a man and waited by the entrance in front of him, taking a brief look. The UFO had landed in a similar farmed field to the one where the Skyranger had landed and they were now directly facing the door. The remaining troopers joined him after some seconds and he was about to make the final run to get to the craft when the Colonel motioned him to stop.

"Beta and Alpha what's your status?" So far everything had been too easy, Johnson thought. Hopkins was the first to reply. "We have approached the farmhouse and are about to start checking it out". Then came Captain Forrester's voice. "Barn is clear. We have spotted two Sectoids to the East and are moving to suppress their fire". It would taken both squads quite some more minutes before being able to move. Four, possibly five aliens had been encountered so far. Too few for his liking and experience of how many aliens that type of craft could carry. Where were the others? Inside the UFO and getting ready to blast every trooper who tried to step inside? Or still lurking outside around and hoping to use their murderous sniper fire on them? Either way it was time to play his high trump card and take initiative. "Second Platoon, deploy opposite from us and start fanning any aliens towards our direction. Alpha, Epsilon, watch out for incoming aliens. Let's give them a lesson on who to perform ambushes this time".

Logan was trying to wait as calm as possibly but the adrenaline he had already taken from the previous gunfight was leaving him nervous and impatient. "Beta move out and watch out the UFO's door!" The Colonel's order quickly sprung him into action. He cleared the bushes and started to move towards the UFO, keeping his head low and his eyes alert. The remainder of the squad quickly followed him, Manning finding himself a position to cover the door with his large cannon and the other four X-Com troopers following him. 

The distance between the fence and the UFO was a bit less than fifty yards away and even at a cautious pace he got halfway in a quick manner. In fact he didn't noticed how fast he was going until he heard Sarge Grisham's voice. "Logan, slow down". He dropped with one knee on the earth and turned around to check on the rest of the squad. 

The summer Sun was burning up high in the sky, baking the whole Midwest like an oven. He saw that they had all advanced but not as further as him. Behind them stood the barn they had just passed. And a large headed creature that had just come into view right at the roof. "Alien! Get down!" Logan shouted while trying to bear his weapon to the threat. An intense pain from his right shoulder suddenly turned everything into a whirl of constant pain and he passed out.

Johnson's attention from the door was first distracted by the alert and then by the plasma fire coming from the farmhouse. They were out in the open, in the middle of a field that offered little in protection and the aliens seemed to hold the high ground. He checked to see where the alien on their backs was and saw a figure in the roof. Damn! The barn was supposed to be clear! Major fuckup. The plasma rounds where already flying and his men were trying to respond but the alien's position made it damn difficult to root them out. They need to do something before the grenades would start to rain down of the sky and cut them into pieces. 

"Beta, there are aliens on the roof of the farmhouse and barn, clear them out now!" He was about to start responding when a whoosh sound coming from the UFO made him stop on his motion.

Hopkins' squad had just checked the ground level of the farmhouse and where about to proceed to the upper floor. So far they hadn't found a trace of any creature, either human or alien, either dead or alive and the Sergeant had wondered what happened to the people who lived at this farm. Everything looked quite in order in the kitchen and living room, without the sort of chaos expected from a recent visit from extraterrestrial beings. Did they managed to escape as they saw the UFO approaching? Or where they killed or abducted? He was afraid of what they might find upstairs in the bedrooms. The call from Johnson made him jump in the middle of the living room. One of the troopers quickly started to head for the stairs but he looked up and had an idea. A quite mad one, but a faster one to take out the alien in the ceiling. 

The first Sectoid to come out of the UFO had one of their large plasma weapons on their hands. It was amazing that it could manage to use a gun of almost his own height, but Johnson's attention was more focused on taking him down. Two well-placed laser rifles made in go down releasing a shriek that turned his blood cold. Last piece of the trap set into place. The situation looked as if all hell had broken loose, with two of his troopers already on ground, either dead or severely injured. 

With no escape possible from either side, they could only try to hold out until the reinforcements took care of the aliens who were ambushing them. And taking heavy casualties in the process, he realized while keeping the UFO covered. Or they could try to get some cover, preferably on a place where the alien's weapons and explosives wouldn't obliterate them.

"Let's get a place to hide! Follow me!" He dashed towards the closed door. The UFO most likely was crowded with aliens. But it also would protect them from the plasma fire and was the place less logical for an attempt to escape the ambush. Screw caution.

"Cut me a large hole up there with the lasers!" Hopkins pointed to a place on the ceiling in the north section of the house. The soldiers from his squad paused for a moment, surprised at the orders but quickly brought their laser weapons upwards, the beams slicing through the wood and plaster and making the ceiling turn red and releasing dark fumes. One of the cuts intersected another and when the third one crossed both the whole section came down. Hopkins paid no attention when it crashed to the ground, spreading plaster all over the room. He had taken the time to get Big Momma ready and now was pointing it to the hole on the ceiling. The rest of his squad realized in amazement of what the Gunnery Sergeant was about to do and quickly moved to the sides.

He was well inside the rocket launcher's minimum range but he hoped that the first floor would give him enough cover. This isn't heroics, you idiot, this is pure stupidity, he heard a voice inside warning him, but ignored it. When he lined up the M3 with the hole he pressed the trigger. When he felt the rocket leaving the tube he immediately jumped to the side. The unguided rocket exploded against the roof, the blast still hitting the side of Hopkins, but the protection given by the body armor hang out. Not the same happened with the floor of the upper level and roof. The blast made the top of the farmhouse literally disintegrate in the air and caved downwards in the area around the cut hole, making wooden beams collapse and throwing around a cloud of dust that obscured the area.

Hopkins found himself on the ground, covered with powder and the remains of the furniture and floor of the first level, but with no major injuries. And laying close to him was the Sectoid from that was sniping on the roof, still alive but looking completely dazzled and with cuts colored green from the alien's blood. Hopkins realized that the thing probably had also broken a few bones by the position one of his arms had taken. His weapon was also close to him and he looked as if he was about to try to go for it. Hopkins took out a combat knife from one of his legs and said: "Oh, no you don't".

The second Sectoid that exited the craft managed to get loose a pair of plasma bolts before he was also killed at nearly point blank, his gray body falling over the alien that had suffered the same fate before. Johnson quickly reached the door and moved closer to activate the opening mechanism. The gray fuselage slided upwards again and he threw himself on a roll inside. The two Sectoids who where close by the door immediately turned towards him. A reaction shot from one of them nearly hit him but the energy instead dissipated itself in the floor of the UFO, leaving nothing but a black mark. He fired his laser rifle at him while still down at the ground, at the same time as the other Sectoid also discharged his plasma rifle. The first alien took a hit on the leg that amputated it, the pain making him join Johnson down.

But the Colonel immediately felt his arm on fire and a deep pain forced him to release his weapon and cringe his mouth. Raising his head he saw second Sectoid correct his aim and fire another shot at him. 

When Markovitch and Patterson reached the UFO they saw that the area seemed to have been just cleared of any hostiles, with two troopers helping a wounded comrade coming out of the craft. "What happened? Where is the Colonel? We heard it on the radio. Is he OK?" She immediately demanded to Captain Forrester as he saw them and approached their position. The X-Com officer sighted and closed his eyes for a moment before replying.

"The area and the UFO are secure. But Epsilon got ambushed and the Colonel took a nasty hit when storming the UFO for them to retreat and get some cover on the craft. He is holding barely alive and has been already moved to the Skyranger but I doubt that he will make it back to base. Logan and White were hit badly but we got both of them stabilized. Plus Chester and Tawney. Found the civvies also. The whole family was cut into pieces".

The Captain sighted hoping that the whole situation was just a bad dream. Markovitch suddenly pushed him, making him drop to the grass on his back. "What the fuck happened!? Your squad was supposed to have checked that barn! I heard you on the radio!" She was about to jump herself on him but Patterson, sensing what she was about to do, quick grabbed her shoulders and prevented it. Forrester stood in resignation on the ground. "There was no stairs to the roof. Somehow the alien managed to climb up there".

"And getting to the perfect place for an ambush you shit brains!" Forrester said nothing at the accusation. She released herself of Patterson's hold and kicked the UFO's fuselage. Patterson added: "We will discuss this later. Right now let's finish boarding the wounded and get the Skyranger to dust off. Maybe if we get to the nearest military base the Colonel might have a chance". 

"I'm going with him". Her tone gave no voice for discussion. Patterson only nodded at her and she started sprinting off into the Skyranger's direction. 

May 9th, 1999

Press Room, White House, Washington DC, US

Every journalist present in the auditorium had adopted one of two stances. They either didn't believe any part of the story and looked at him sideways or they had expressed to him that they wanted to see what the Government would do about it. When the Defense Secretary came into the room and stood behind the podium he put away all those questions. 

"Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. Today it is my pleasure to announce you one of the latest achievements by our aerospace industry. There were rumors about it before, but so far the program has been highly classified, for matters of national security". 

Blake waited in anticipation. Did he really pushed them against the wall so that they needed to come out like this?

"With the retirement of the SR-71 strategic reconnaissance plane in the beginning of the 90's there was the development of a substitute, much more capable than the old 'Blackbird'. So, let me present you the SR-75 Black Ghost, designed by the world famous Lockheed Skunk Works, following the tradition of such planes as the U-2 and the SR-71". He uncovered a panel placed close to him and a large picture of the Aurora was revealed. "We have been operating them for some time and right now there is a squadron based at Tonopah Test Range in Nevada. If you recall that is the facility where the F-117 was also initially based".

Tonopah! Blake suddenly realized. What is going on at Area 51 then, since the place sure doesn't look deserted now? He brought his attention back to the press conference. The Secretary was finishing his presentation. 

"But I've talked too much already. Please, shoot me with your questions, but not literally, of course". All the journalists started at the same time to ask questions and Polk took extra delight in picking up individuals.

"Mr. Secretary, John Stevens of ABC News. Is that the plane known as the Aurora?"

"Yes. This is the craft famous for the sonic booms produced a couple of years ago over Southern California". Another journalist posed a question. 

"Is it a spy plane?"

"We prefer to call it a reconnaissance asset. Please feel free to bombard me with your questions, but some aspects of the Black Ghost are still classified for the time being".

Blake's voice imposed over the others. "Is it responsible for the wave of UFO apparitions we have been seeing for the past months". Polk didn't even waver at the enquiry.

"Now that is a most interesting question, Mr…. Blake if I'm not wrong? Let me tell you that quite some people at the Pentagon took good laughs at your article. Regrettably, the footage you refer to is nothing more than a hoax".

"Can I tell from your answer that the White House denies the existence of UFOs?"

"To clarify the whole question, I will make a public statement regarding that matter right here. The US policy towards the so-called UFOs is still the same: our investigations over the phenomena have led us to believe that they all have a natural background. And neither are our Armed Forces trying to develop such a type of craft at the moment. I'm sorry if that isn't want you wanted to hear, Mr. Blake, but that's the truth".

"And the plane in the footage? Is that the Aurora?"

"I've already given that answer when I mentioned that the images you refer to are nothing more than manipulation. A well constructed one, but still manipulation. Next time check your sources better, Mr. Blake. Now back to the Aurora. Any more questions?"

As the battalion of journalists went over again to their work, Blake stood silent in the room, thinking. The truth, my ass! There's something here that you aren't telling us. And I'm going to find out about it.

May 19th, 1999

X-Com's Far East Command Base, Complex YY-18, Japan

Colonel Yamashita and Councilman Tamako were standing close to a Skyranger at the tarmac of X-Com's base in the island of Hokkaido in northern Japan. The rear door of the plane was opened and small vehicle was coming down the ramp. While it had the distinct look of a tank with a circular turret riding on the top, the size immediately told that this was no ordinary armoured vehicle. It measured less than eight feet in length and four feet in width, making it look that even if it the crew consisted of only one member, the individual inside it would be completely encased in a metal container. It slowly moved down the ramp until it reached the cement ground. The machine then turned around but at a more quickly speed, before both men. The military official spoke. 

"X-Com's first Toyota Type 107A automated heavy weapons platform, Mr. Councilman. It took months to rebuild the research on the artificial intelligence but it has passed with high marks the tests on its ability to deal with military warfare environments. We now will start programming it with the tactics we have developed meanwhile and see how it proved itself on simulated tests. If all goes well it will be operational shortly".

"Please afterwards send me the results. I must say the size isn't impressive, but if it works as the Council was informed we will soon have a powerful new weapon at our disposal. When do you expect to receive more of those?"

"In a week. We should receive the preproduction HWP of the fire-support version equipped with an unguided rocket launcher instead of the 60 millimeter cannon this one is carrying. We tried to put guided missiles on it but they the missiles and the guidance system was just too bulky. However, the engineers here at the base will try to devise a turret equipped with one heavy laser to give them more firepower".

"Preproduction? Hasn't it started already?"

"That is the other reason I wanted to discuss with you Mr. Tamako. In spite of the fact that our country has been most generous with X-Com, the Toyota Company has suspended deliveries or the production until we have cleared the present debt we own to them. And my force is starting to feel operational constraints. We had already to limit the use of Phoenix missiles on our interceptors and use instead the Amraams with shorter range that endanger more our planes".

"X-Com's forces stationed to defend Japan will never have problems about lack of funding or necessary equipment. It is a direct order from the Emperor and you heard it yourself from his Majesty's, Colonel. Tell us what you need and you will receive it, counting that is not too excessive". 

"Yes Councilman, but I also tried to fight the aliens before in the Kiryu-Kai and we had all the resources available. And it proved us that no country alone, not even Japan, Russia or the United States can ever hope to defeat the aliens". 

May 20th, 1999

Motel Trucker's Paradise, Maryland, US

Waiting at the combined location for the meeting, Williams kept thinking about the memo the DCI had sent him a couple of days ago. The team was going to be separated and he didn't like it a bit. His opinion had been asked about it but he couldn't state the worries that went over his mind. For some reason he wasn't included in the list of the names proposed by the different heads of the US intelligence services to join X-Com. And it made him nervous to feel that he could be kept back at Washington where he could better monitorized. Worse yet, the inclusion of such members could mean the possibility of further leaks into each country's intelligence services and the infiltration of X-Com by the conspirators.

It bothered him to loose Davis and other members from the alien team. Technically they were about to suffer problems in efficiency since the replacements wouldn't be up to date with the whole situation. It all stank of some clever maneuvering behind the scenes and he thought if the National Security Adviser was also just a pawn in proposing the idea or something far more dangerous. After all, resentment against X-Com was slowly increasing over the US military and intelligence services, most of it unjustified or pure jealously, but it was increasing. 

Three knocks on the motel room's door brought his attention back to reality. There was a pause, then another identical set of knocks. Like it had been arranged. Such security measures were more to impress the person who was about to come in, since Davis was outside and would react to any sign of trouble. Williams told the man to enter. 

Blake opened the door, looked around and found Williams seated by a table, with the lights deliberately low. He closed the door and got inside, grabbing another chair placing himself facing Williams. The CIA man spoke. 

"Before anything, it is necessary to clarify some aspects. I won't tell you my name and I'm not another Deep Throat and neither what I have to tell you represents official policy. This conversation never took place and I will deny every word of it. Is that clear?"

"Sure, but please tell the goon outside to give me back my tape recorder when I go out. I can't work with that thing".

"Don't worry. What you should be more concerned about is your work exactly. You have been drawing a lot of attention with some of your articles".

"Are you talking about the UFO situation?"

"I'm saying that some things are kept away from the public's opinion for some reason, specially in a time of crisis. Our government did the same on World War II, since there was a grave necessity of controlling Nazi and Japanese propaganda".

Blake's face became grim. "Are you telling me that we are at war?"

"I didn't say that. But there are many nations that would desire us harm. And some things have good reasons to be considered national security". 

"Look, I got hundreds of reports about UFOs going around in the skies, together with more disturbing stories about extraterrestrial beings. Are you going to tell me that all those people are nuts or wrong? Something is going on here and the Government has the duty to inform the citizens".

"In this particular case, there are greater needs to be first fulfilled. Can you imagine what would happen if those reports were confirmed? There would be massive implications and that is just what the forces behind them want".

"The forces behind them? You mean you know what is going on?"

"Before I go on, I must stress the fact that this will all eventually come out one day to the public. It is too much important to be kept a secret, specially when deals with events that changed this century".

Good, Williams say to himself as he noticed the journalist becoming more and more interested. However, the question was to make him understand the necessity of secrecy without telling him too much or confirming other suspects that he might have. "Please carry on. And let me tell you I will take all of that into consideration". Blake asked.

Now, it's time for the big lie, let's see if the axiom that fiction is more believable than reality actually applies. "This whole matter goes back to 1945 and Nazi Germany. Years back Hitler had ordered the development of special projects, such as the world's first jet fighters and the V-bombs. But many more where on their final steps of development, with matters of months before they could be mass-produced to turn events and making Germany win the war. The Allied troops captured the majority of them as they conquered Germany, but of some there was nothing more than vague references without any blueprints or scientists left that could explain the concepts".

"Hold it! Just what does it have to do with the whole UFO situation?"

"I was about to get there. Some of the papers gave out the description of the Heinabu, a saucer type craft with technological abilities that are still a mystery. The prototype was destroyed before Allied troops could capture it and there was no sign of the scientists who had developed it". 

"Those things in the air were developed by the Nazis? By who? The Soviet Union?"

"That would make things more simple, but unfortunately the truth is more disturbing than that. As Hitler's empire was crumbling there were U-boats that left Germany full of men and material and headed for some unknown location. Their destination was never known and even now we are at a loss to dig them out, although we have indications that they might have headed for the South Hemisphere. And a lot of strange events have been taking place in the world and more especially in Europe at the moment. Nationalism at an unheard scale all over Europe and disaffection, especially in countries with large ethnic minorities. Neonazi groups increasing their presence and numbers. And the beginnings of general discredit over our democratic system, reflected on low voter turnout and so forth. Now go back to the 1920's and see the parallel. Can you imagine what could have happen if suddenly there was an economic recession, together with the fact that there are UFOs out there in the skies?"

"Holy shit! Someone might just use the opportunity to make himself a grab for power!"

"Or be working behind the scenes in one hell of an evil plan, using advanced technology to scare the general populace and increase the sense of insecurity. I'm pleased to see that you share of the same concerns. Until we have fully detected the threat and how to counteract it there are things that are better if they remain silent". And now it's time for the tougher questions, Williams added, that will decide how this meeting will turn out.

"Hold on. You told me a great story, but you haven't given to me any means to confirm it. How can I confirm anything? This could all be a lot of bull".

"You can't. Like I told you, the things I've said don't represent any official position. And there's more but for the moment just being in possession of such information may represent a danger to the person". 

"By whom?"

"The very same forces acting behind all this. And no one might be safe from them". Williams told himself to be careful and not reveal his secret. The whole idea had been discussed on the team and had more holes on it than any intelligence plan that they could consider, but it would give them time and might refrain this journalist from posing too many questions. 

"You mean I might be in danger?"

"I don't know where you got that footage, but the person behind it breached a security level even greater than the Manhattan Project or the Stealth fighter program. Think about it". 

Blake did for some seconds. "Well, I don't know who sent it to me and probably I wouldn't reveal his identity if I did". Just like they had thought, Williams sighed. There was still no indication on who had been responsible for the leak and next time it could be something more damaging, like the recent pictures taken by the Hubble space telescope clearly showing alien ships moving in and out of the dark side of the Moon. At least some of their activities were clearly being conducted from there, since Earth's natural satellite was the perfect spot to for an excellent base of operations to conduct attacks on the planet. There had been some talk for a reconnaissance run by a satellite or even about equipping the Shuttle fleet to conduct an attack on the alien forces based there, but even the probe idea had only a small chance of success. With no doubt the aliens would detect the vehicle and destroy it. No, Earth's space technology was no match for the alien's. Yet, he corrected himself, trying to feel a bit more hopeful, although on his line of work they had to stick to the facts present and make rational decisions about them. Still, they hadn't yet bothered to strike at the satellites in orbit, which was a blessing but also a complete puzzlement. Could it be that they weren't aware of the strategic importance of the reconnaissance, navigation and communications satellites placed on orbit for mankind's military forces? Or did they just have other unknown plans?

"You known, this Neonazi stuff you are telling could just be a lot of crap. I need some evidence of it". The journalist in front of him distracted Williams from his thoughts.

"I can't help you on there. Find your own evidence and think in global terms".

"Why are you doing this? Whom do you work for?"

"You will probably find out if you investigate. But don't ever try to contact me. And I work for people concerned about this planet's future".Williams quietly wondered how many times that line must have been used to convince people of committing acts of high treason. There's a thin line here he warned himself, before telling Blake that he wouldn't respond to anymore questions and that the meeting was over. 

May 25th, 1999

Swiss Banque of Credit Headquarters, Geneva, Switzerland

Tugging at the cuffs of his civilian suit, Illyuschenko wondered about the orders that had come two days ago from the Secretary General of the UN telling him to be present at a meeting in the Swiss financial capital. He had presented himself at the corporate bank's headquarters and had been taken to the last floor of the building, to a large conference room here he found the Secretary General himself. The former Prime Minister of an African nation looked as if he had grown older quite some years, the Commander of X-Com thought. He hadn't been able to tell him much more that he had been invited for a reunion regarding X-Com's financial problems and Illyuschenko knew that the thing was about to become complicated. After last month's cuts in funding from some countries the economic situation of the force was of complete desperation. Their available funds were close to zero and they couldn't buy the necessary ammunition and spare parts anymore. Worse, scientific research in some projects had already been halved for lack of available funding. And the combat attrition the teams suffered only made it worse. If things didn't improve by the end of the month Illyuschenko already knew that they were going bankrupt, probably losing the support of the Council of Funding Nations, which would doom X-Com. The requests for more funding had come unanswered and either they would have to let go of some of the research to some nations to get more money or the whole project was doomed. Which was something that didn't sounded very well to both men. It was clear that some nations were severely penalizing the force for its resolution in controlling access to alien technology and this whole situation, while showing the problems in dealing with just the reported incursions also stank of political maneuvering. Pretty soon they would start demanding other things, like control of the teams based on their territory and that would also dictate the end of X-Com, without a centralized command and with every nation fighting for itself.

Eight old men suddenly entered the room and presentations were made. As he greeted every executive, Illyuschenko noticed that these were the leaders of Switzerland's biggest private financial institutions. All of them sat themselves on chair disposed around a large black circular table, with the bankers sitting together in front of both UN men. The one in the middle started to speak:

"As you know some of us are the presidents of the banks through which your operation is run, as defined on your charter, the initial encounters mediated by the Swiss government". Both Illyuschenko and the General Secretary nodded. Maintain secrecy and neutrality, the Council had decided to deal the financial details through Swiss bank accounts.

"That means a large amount of bureaucracy, which by its turn leaves a rather large paper trail. And our conclusions, based on that same documents, indicate that your organization is doomed financially in the end of his month". Illyuschenko got alarmed, but he decided to listen to more.

"From your reactions I take it that you also share of my thoughts. Even the efforts from your field commanders to selling in black markets the latest Earth weapons, which we take it that are being replaced for better, unheard of so far, material, aren't enough to save you from bankruptcy". Seeing the surprise on both men's eyes he added: "That can be discussed later if you want. For now let's continue. Suffice to say, that would leave us as your owners, since we will take over the necessary assets to cover our own losses. But that would be highly unlikely, since the Council would cover our losses, to allow themselves to your material and research". He paused and had a sip of water from a glass in front of him. "We are not managers, gentlemen. We wouldn't be interested in running your organization. But we are investors and a big chance has appeared on the horizon. The whole stock market depends on the results of a company. If it fails the market goes into a recession, or even completely crashes. What do you do, invest on it, hoping that it will eventually get its results up again? Or see what it happens and keep the funds in case the bad times are about to come? You see the parallel, I suppose?"

Stop this capitalistic talk and tell us want you want, you old idiot or I will be wishing that I had been allow to bring my gun, Illyuschenko thought, almost reaching for his absent holster.

"It's simply a high-risk choice, but we would like to prefer to be prepared for worse times". We're dead, Illyuschenko thought. We are going to be massacred by the aliens while a minority of men has all those fortunes sitting idly or spending them in futile things. And the rest of the world suffers from it again. No wonder communism could be sometimes so attractive. 

"The paperwork indicates that you must be getting your bases full of captured alien material. I don't know if you have ever learned about the leasing or, better yet, a pawning system gentlemen but we have decided that it could be most useful on this matter". What is he talking about, Illyuschenko thought? What does that mean?

The UN Secretary understood and replied: "We would lease to you some of the surplus equipment in return for payment?"

"Yes. And afterwards, if you wanted to reclaim it you would have to pay back the amount received, plus a small interest. If you didn't wanted to pay the object would pass to our possession and all matters would be resolved".

They wanted to buy the garbage that was filling his bases? Illyuschenko shook his head. Even building a base with a large storage area hadn't been enough to deal with the cargo problem. There was just too many junk that just couldn't be thrown away into a trash landfill. Because of that, the corridors back on Mother One were becoming filled with crates containing alien alloys, alien weapons and equipment and other things that hadn't been identified yet. Some areas had even started to be called the freak house or the horror corridor because the dead aliens were preserved there in plain sight of all base inhabitants. If they wanted it they could have it, but for what? "Excuse me, but what would it happen to the material? You couldn't just use it or do scientific research on it. The reason why we have it stored at our bases is exactly because of secrecy".

"And why would we want to do that? If you fail no one can save us. On the other hand, if you win the secrecy will be lifted and that material will be worth its weight on gold for scientific research. And we share of your concerns to keep the world a safe place if victory is achieved by not allowing that the technology falls into the wrong hands. Of course, if you decide to sell some of it, we have knowledge of some corporations and entrepreneurs that are very much interested on it. And we could act as intermediaries, leaving your identity concealed. There are other organizations out there, legal ones, of course, that would also pay dearly to get their hands on 'foreign' technology". He paused to see if any of the X-Com's civilian and military commanders wanted to make any questions. Seeing that they were waiting for him to finish, he continued:

"What we will gain then? Well, even if you buy it back we will make a very large profit. As for the where we would keep it, look around when you go out gentlemen. Switzerland is a place of mountains, of tunnels, of caves. There are many Second World War bunkers and shelters that have been abandoned by the military and how are used by civilian enterprises. And you can seal off the crates and watch them being guarded".

The UN Secretary looked at Illyuschenko and he nodded back. There really wasn't much choice, taking into consideration the financial state of X-Com. He then turned to the bankers and said: "How do we work out the details? This has to be done with the greatest discretion. I can't imagine the Council's reaction if they know about it". Illyuschenko added: "And with the greatest speed also. I can't afford losing men and equipment for lack of money!"

"Spoken like a true economist, General. How about if you provide us with a list of existing equipment for us to make an evaluation of their price as quickly as possible?"

May 27th, 1999 

Area 51, Nevada, United States

Captain Markovitch had been informed that the Colonel had finally regained consciousness the night before after the injuries he had sustained in Iowa. She had spent most of her free time near his bed, watching his recovery from the heavy plasma blast he had taken on his left chest. The alien alloy armor had been all but consumed by the weapon's destructive power and the shock had collapsed his lung and started a deadly hemorrhage. Nobody knew how Johnson had managed to survive the alien shot. X-Com's doctors had told that her decision to bring him to the nearest hospital available in the area had been a crucial decision. Otherwise he wouldn't have made the journey back into Area 51, but even how Johnson had managed to survive the small trip to the hospital was a mystery. Civilian authorities were going nuts over the fact that she had taken top secret aircraft and men engaged in a covert mission to a civilian medical facility and exposed them, but she had told them to shove it up their asses. Or something in that way of thinking. 

She wanted to see him that same day but an UFO warning had been issued and she had been involved the whole day in the recovery of the crash site. They had managed to kill five Sectoids in return for one dead trooper and pretty bashed Celtic cross type UFO. The damn bugs were just using too much of their heavy weaponry nowadays, specially that fucking large plasma weapon. 

When the Skyranger had landed back she had removed her armor, taken a shower and headed out for the base infirmary, not bothering to do the debriefing first. When she entered his hospital room she saw that he was sleeping. The first thing that she noticed was the large white bandage covering his left chest. And the machines that monitored his vital signs along with the blood and serum containers placed on the side of his bed, connected to him through a needle on his arm. He suddenly half-opened his eyes and tried to focus on her. Mumbling he then said: "How….how did it go?"

"We made it. Don't worry about it now". 

He closed his eyes and tried to raise his arm but the gave it up in the middle of the motion, the limb dropping to his side. She said, half-jokingly: "Talking about a stubborn attitude". He tried to move on his bed as if recollecting his thoughts, his face frowning.

"And the other operation?"

"Major Patterson took over command and successfully defeated the aliens. He has been running the show since". 

"Did….did anyone didn't make it?" He opened his eyes again. 

She decided to wait before giving him the body count. "They fought like devils. I guess you really inspired them when you decided to jump in the middle of that plasma fire inside the UFO. That and the fact that you've been hit twice in the chest and managed to make it both times. It seems the troops are starting to call you 'Ironheart', and I must say that is a name that suits you in many manners, Erwin". 

He looked at her in silence for some seconds. "The doctors told me you came here every day". 

"Just checking to see how you were doing".

"And that you spend hours seated by my side". 

She moved closer to the bed and spoke: "You know why I did it Erwin".

He kept looking at her, fixing on his eyes. "Yes, I know. I…". She reached and grabbed his hand. "Don't say anymore Erwin. Just rest. There will be time later for this". He gave her one last look and closed his tired eyes, almost immediately going to a peaceful sleep. 

_André Galvão, 2001_


	11. Light Spring Breeze

X-Com - The Unknown Menace

X-Com – The Unknown Menace

Chapter Ten – Light Spring Breeze

July 12th, 1999

VVS (Russian Air Force) HQ, outside Moscow, Russian Federation

President Larianov was feeling very anxious. He was standing in the middle of the complex that controlled all of Russia's airspace and air defence resources, together with Dr. Ziguanine. After months of almost desperate waiting and spending a huge amount of money and resources, it finally seemed that Project Umbrella was about to reveal its full potential. Although Doctor Ziguanine had supported testing the new blaster technology first on an old satellite, Larianov had specifically ordered that it was used against the aliens as quickly as possible. Ziguanine had complained about the fact that it wouldn't permit a full controlled trial of the weapon, but he had been dismissed and ordered to prepare to bring the weapon into operational status.

Larianov still couldn't understand completely the technological wonders that were behind the whole project. But Ziguanine had made a good effort to put it into layman's terms. The laser that had been originally test-fired didn't have enough power to destroy targets back on land so they had replaced it with a particle beam accelerator. Basically it was like swapping the ammunition and the barrel of a huge-sized cannon, the scientist had explained, since the targeting system was already working. Now they just needed a silver bullet that made the most damage. And what sort of a bullet, Larianov thought. He had personally authorized all the requirements, noting that many were research projects that had been frozen or canned with the demise of the Soviet Union. Although the weapon was powered by the nuclear reactor inside the facility, to assure that it had its own independent source of energy that could feed the enormous amount of power it consumed, it also used parts of technology first developed in the research of fusion reaction. A controlled fusion reaction was still one of men's dreams, a clean source of power that could be fed using the water of the oceans. The process was close to reproducing the reactions that gave the Sun and stars its energy, but in a controlled fashion. While nuclear fission consists on the splintering of U-235 uranium or Pu-239 Plutonium isotopes through bombardment with neutrons, fusion worked in the opposite way. Two atoms of hydrogen, the simplest element present in nature, consisting of only one proton and one electron were combined together using huge temperatures to form one atom of helium, releasing massive doses of energy in the process. A heavier form of hydrogen, which added one neutron to the proton and was called deuterium, could be better used. The Soviet Union had tried to produce it, but the pressure and heat required were just too advanced for the present technology, since they would have to duplicate the conditions at the Sun. Still, all of the work had left them with a great deal of research on the area of how to contain and direct the deuterium particles used in a fusion reaction, through the use of electromagnetic fields. And those investigations were now having their practical use, being installed in the weapon to control the huge flux of ionised particles it released.

"Dr. Ziguanine, is the beam ready?"

"Yes, sir. I flew from there from Azamas 36 this morning after concluding the final calibrations on the weapon. All we need now is that Marshal Boganovitch find us a target to fire it. But I must say I still would like it to be first shot at another target, preferably one of our dead satellites in orbit".

"The answer is no, Doctor. I want the aliens to feel as soon as possible that they cannot over fly us with impunity anymore".

"You realize you will only be able to hit targets that are slow moving or that have landed? Craft moving at faster speeds won't be affected, since the movement required on the beam would take out most of its destructiveness".

"But still they will not be able to land anymore"

Marshal Boganovitch moved through the consoles where technicians were busily talking into radio speakers and pressing buttons and approached both men. "Sir, the X-Com base at the Caucasus reports that their radar have detected an UFO close to the Ural Mountains that seems about to touch down, according to its flight profile. They are about to scramble one of their Skyrangers to assault it. What shall we do about it sir?"

"Do we have the UFO's location?"

"Yes sir. We have also moved one of our remaining reconnaissance satellite to the area to keep an watch on it".

"Don't tell them about the energy beam, soon they will discover for themselves that we don't need their assistance anymore. When they get there they won't find anything besides the remains of the craft".

Turning to Dr. Ziguanine he asked: "When can we hit it?"

"Mir is coming around in the horizon. Without their mirror the range would be shortened to targets over the line of the facility's horizon. Judging from the size of the UFO and its flight profile, we will be ready to fire it in a few minutes, but I would prefer to wait until it lands".

"This isn't the time for failure Dr."

"As I am well aware, sir. If you excuse me, Mr. President, I must make some more final calculations since we most likely will have to introduce corrections into the targeting computers afterwards". The physicist left and went over to a group of other scientific personnel.

Larianov noticed nervously the board where the alien craft, marked with a red dot, was over flying the Ural Mountains and now was heading west towards the more populated areas of European Russia. After long minutes of waiting, Ziguanine come up to him and the Marshal again. "We are ready, sir".

Larianov nodded, feeling that a great power had just been put on his hands, more powerful than even the control codes for the launch of the nuclear missiles his country possessed. "This is will be the day were Russia will raise up again, gentlemen! Prepare to fire the beam!" Both men excused themselves and when each to his own way to make the final preparations. Larianov contemplated the agitation around him. Each man, either being civilian or military looked sharp and motivated. This is the beginning of the end, he thought. Like the Teutonic Knights, the Mongols, Napoleon or Hitler, these extraterrestrials are now going to feel the power of Mother Russia and how it hurts to invade her. 

Over the Volga River, Caucasus, Russian Federation

Colonel Boronin was seriously considering taking a nap on the flight to get some rest before the action. If that was ever possible, since the noise coming from the various mechanical parts of the Skyranger where he was inside made it near to impossible to have a conversation. To worsen the situation, one of the troopers had put on American rock music on a tape player taped to the wall of the plane. Although Boronin knew how to spoke English, the noise coming out of the stereo device was impossible to decipher. He thought of telling the trooper to can, but decided he had slept in far much worse conditions than this one. He was about to give it a try but Major Gerasimov suddenly appeared, moving forward on the Skyranger crew compartment until he met the Colonel. His face was happy as he turned to say to Boronin: "Hey Piotr, nice day to hunting monsters with my platoon, Da? We were getting anxious down here of you spending too much time with the other team". He made a sarcastical grin and took out a cigarette pack from his weapons belt. Taking one out he brought it to his mouth and lit it up with a small burst from his laser sidearm.

Shaking his head, Boronin smiled back and replied: "Vanya, at least Captain's Likhachev men bathe. Or bother to hose their craft occasionally. This piece of junk here stinks of alien shit and of bad Russian tobacco. Not to mention the proofs of violation of the regulations that forbid the presence of alcoholic beverages".

Gerasimov's grin went even larger. Every Russian Skyranger carried a bottle of vodka and glasses to toast to the alive and the dead after each mission. Although strictly forbidden by X-Com's regulations, so far no word had ever arrived to the High Command or the Council of Funding Nations. "Well Colonel, it's a tradition down here. We don't clean up whatever goo their recovered stinky bodies let go on the way back. It's great also to welcome the rookies. They usually puke themselves out after two or three hours putting up with the perfume". 

"The same tradition that makes your men cut out 'souvenirs' from the dead alien corpses after a battle? You men are surely becoming truly of the traditional type". The Colonel added in an ironical tone. 

Gerasimov made a wicked smile before answering. "To make them terrorized sir. They need to know whom they are fighting. I want them to piss on their pants every time they face my team".

Boronin shook his head. "Vanya, that would be logical if the aliens ever went back to the crash sites and saw the disfigured bodies of their companions, but I even doubt they would care. Keep getting your dirty souvenirs, just leave something for the scientists afterwards and don't let the habit get too out of hand".

"Affirmative, Colonel!" He threw a mock salute. Afterwards he sat down closer to his superior officer and said. "Actually I wanted to talk to you about this mission. Something is strange here. For the first time Russian High Command isn't on our backs right from the minute we informed them that we had detected the UFO. Any thing we should know about Colonel?"

"I noticed it also, Major. And I'm also clueless about what it might mean". Not that Boronin actually was worried. After months of his country's interference into X-Com's operations, this was actually a blessing out of the skies. Well, at least something out of the skies. In any case a bit more than two hours they would find out what was so special about this UFO. 

New York City, US

Number Three was seated on his chair, behind a large oak desk, looking at a monitor placed on top of it. Everything was coming together, he thought, now we gain the upper hand. Looking over his office he looked at the Picasso that he had on the wall directly in front of him. What would the artist paint of all this, he asked himself. With each step mankind's destiny would be more and more woven into the fabric of their plans. This is the beginning of a new era, the final revolution that man has to go through. He turned the chair around to take a glimpse of the skyscrapers behind him, with the Hudson River on the background as for the last time.

After some more seconds of contemplation, a beep interrupted him. He turned again slowly to face the monitor. Number Nine was standing on the image, also seated.

"Is it confirmed?" Number Three asked, already knowing the answer. 

"Yes. And their first firing test will be in some minutes from now, against a live target".

"As we assumed. You have done well this time". Taking full flavour of the moment, he continued: "Inform the others. Prepare your operatives in the field. Now it's our turn to be ready, to move our piece on the board to place both our opponents in check". He then turned off the communication and glanced around him one more time. "Yes, the world is about to change. But to where it's going they don't even have a clue".

Azamas 36, Siberia, Russian Federation

Azamas 36 had been built in the middle of Siberia, in a plain close to the Jenisej River for the dual purpose of being able to cover the whole northern border of the Soviet Union and defend against any missiles that would have come over the North Pole, the most likely route for a nuclear attack. The other intent of building and maintaining such a research project in a desolate area was secrecy. All the roads leading towards Azamas 36 were constantly guarded and a saboteur or spy would have to cross hundreds of miles of taiga to reach the location. Furthermore, a whole area of the evergreen forest had been cut down around the facility to prevent detection. 

The massive bunker holding the particle projector laser weapon stood silent in the middle of the desolate landscape, its form standing in the middle of the flat terrain. It was more than five stories high and the circular dome placed on his top was now open, making it resemble more of a telescope than the instrument of destruction that it was. Inside the gun barrel of the particle projector weapon and the equipment placed close to it dominated a large room. It had taken the scientists a great deal of work and imagination for the whole thing to work properly and only know would they know if the years of research would pay off. A mechanical glitch that provoked a loss of power deactivated one of the electromagnetic fields being used to contain and direct the ionised particles that were the basis of the weapon's destructive power. However, the personnel present at the facility quickly detected the problem and moved to resolve it, without the need of contacting Moscow to report the occurrence.

Then the order to deploy the barrel came and the base on which the whole gun assembly rested started slowly into the westward direction. While it completed its movement power levels and the targeting system were again checked, and word was sent back to Moscow that it was prepared. 

Close to the Ural Mountains, Russian Federation

More than a thousand miles to the east of Moscow and almost the same distance that separated the Urals from the facility at Azamas 36, the Celtic cross type UFO finished crossing the mountain range that separated Europe from Asia. The silver colour reflected with the Sun and it slowed its speed, drawing the attention of the driver of a truck that was travelling in one secondary road miles away.

It finally came to a stop in the vicinity of a collective farm village and landed in a clearing on a forest. The door on its side opened and a Floater came out carrying a plasma rifle. The alien checked the area for any possible Terran activity and after some seconds more Floaters started to come out but this time carrying different types of an unknown type of equipment. 

VVS (Russian Air Force) HQ, outside Moscow, Russian Federation

The waiting period inside the facility had filled the atmosphere with tension. The silence was almost unbearable to stand and the sound of Dr. Ziguanine's voice brought an anticlimax to the whole situation. 

"The invader's vessel has landed, Mr. President". Larianov had been feeling a bit nervous until now. Upon hearing the information he smiled and asked: "Are we ready?"

Dr. Ziguanine hesitated for one moment and said: "I can't tell that this is the best way to test the weapon since I can't guarantee one hundred percent possibly that we will destroy it, but yes, we are ready upon your command".

"Fire at will then Dr. Let the aliens see the strength of our wrath and warn them about the error of dealing with us!"

The scientist nodded and gave the command to the officers standing at the consoles. 

Azamas 36, Siberia, Russian Federation

When the order was given to the computers that controlled the projected particle weapon they didn't immediately discharge it. Instead, first the more than a thousand megawatt output of the nuclear power plant that fed the bunker's huge energy slowly increased its power. The energy requirements were tremendous, almost draining the full capacity of the nuclear reactor and making the civilian sections suffer a short blackout in power. One of the main problems had been in controlling the dispersion caused by Earth's atmosphere as the beam travelled into space and went back to the planet upon reflection on the Mir's mirror that would have rended the weapon useless. But since the target was stationary the solution found by the scientists had been to apply more and more power to surpass the atmospheric attrition. The first particles would react with the atmosphere to create an ionised corridor for the remainder of the beam to travel, but in a more condensed form, allowing it to have destructive abilities. The whole process would last only a few seconds, but the energies required had been until now impossible to achieve. Only the perfectioning of the power supply and advances in optics, together with the skills of the designers, had made itpossible for the whole system to become an weapon.

Close to the projector, a newly installed special containment chamber held deuterium gas, a heavier form of hydrogen. Enormous electric charges were suddenly applied into the deuterium, transforming it into a mass of negatively ions, i.e., atoms that possess extra electrons. Using electromagnetic fields the gas was then accelerated through other equipment just recently installed in the outside of the bunker: a long vacuum tunnel. In physics the opposites attract one another, so the negatively charged particles become contained and projected through the use of a combination of positive and negative intense electromagnetic fields.

The atoms travelled for a long extension until finally reaching an appropriate speed and being made to release their extra electrons and transformed into neutral particles. The reason for this last process was to avoid that the charged particles trajectory would be affected by Earth's magnetic field, ruining their accuracy and making the beam harmless.

When the first high-energy particles left the barrel they immediately interacted with the oxygen and nitrogen present in Earth's atmosphere, breaking down the molecules and transforming them into ozone and other rare products. The beam went upwards until it reached the mirror on the Mir Space Station. While it before had been used as a way to reflect the laser beam, now the equipment installed on board of the spaceship had been upgraded with special devices designed by Dr. Ziguanine's team and couldn't be properly called a mirror anymore. Instead of a reflective surface, the mirror now consisted of a circular receptor that captured the beam and forced it into a magnetic field where the dispersion from Earth's atmosphere was corrected. The particles regained their power by being concentrated into a smaller beam and were reaccelerated and sent back to Earthagain on their way to their target.

When the first high-speed atoms it the UFO they barely had any destructive power left, after all the atmospheric interaction. Still, more and more particles kept coming through the corridor until suddenly alarms inside the operator's console inside the craft started to come off. The Floater navigator was surprised to see the level of heat and radiation on the fuselage of the UFO starting to come up but he had no time to respond properly to the threat. In a few seconds the level of particles rose to a level that made the grey alien alloys came red and then yellow and finally white as the metal's temperature come close to the ones on the Sun's surface. The beam also had another effect on the UFO, disrupting the navigational systems used to propel the craft as the atoms crossed the fuselage and wrecked havoc with the components inside. The Floater tried to respond by taking off the UFO but he discovered that the controls wouldn't work. His last action before the heat inside made him pass out was to send a warning to the rest of the fleet. 

Meanwhile the craft's fuselage had already started to melt and burn. Crossing that obstacle, the particles then proceeded directly into the inside of the UFO.When they hit the Elerium reactor they disrupted the containment fields used to control the matter-antimatter reaction used to generate power. The final result was a huge explosion as all theElerium stored inside suddenly went hypercritical, releasing all of its antimatter particles, which annihilated themselves upon contact with matter.

Close to the Ural Mountains, Russian Federation

Five minutes until touchdown, Boronin reminded himself as he was getting up his seat to prepare to deploy. All around him, the members of Gerasimov's platoon were doing the same as they all received the warning from the Skyranger's pilot. "There's a strange light on the sky, Colonel!" Then, all of a sudden a bright light filled the crew compartment and a shock wave rattled the plane, making everyone fall on the metal floor.

Boronin found himself lying down, aware that something very wrong had happened. Slowly his hearing came back and he realized that there must have been a massive explosion since his brain he couldn't remember the noise. He got up and run to the cockpit where he found the pilot struggling with the controls and trying to land down the Skyranger. "What happened there?"

The pilot didn't bother to look back but replied: "Sir, there was a huge explosion on the direction of the UFO. I only recall seeing first a beam of light in the sky and afterwards something as bright as a nuclear explosion. We got lucky that we were circling the UFO's position otherwise the blast would have made me blind". 

"A nuclear explosion?!" Boronin was aghast. "They used a nuclear weapon to take care of the UFO?"

Earth's Orbit

The DSP (Defence Support Program) satellite that was flying in a geosynchronous orbit over the equator had been placed in orbit over the Equator to detect missile launches against the United States. It was equipped with a infrared detector to spot the plume of any incoming ballistic missile and there was a number of them placed over the Euroasia continent at any time. When the particle projector at Azamas 36 detonated the Elerium power source a set of detection devices in the satellite immediatly went off, transmitting a warning back to NORAD which immediatly put the U.S. war machine ready for a possible nuclear attack. 

VVS (Russian Air Force) HQ, outside Moscow, Russian Federation

Every Russian present at the Air Defence facility felt pride as the results of the first firing of the particle beam were announced. Dr. Ziguanine approached President's Larianov and the Russian Commander in Chief immediately shook his hand.

"Well done Doctor. You shall receive our country's greatest reward for this achievement". The scientist looked surprised and replied in an unsure way.

"Sir, while this proves that the beam can be successfully used as a weapon, the results also prove that we can't just use it indiscriminately. According to the satellite, the blast radius caused by the weapon was more than a kilometre. We will need to be careful upon using it close to civilian facilities".

"But we still can use it against slow moving targets approaching the weapon can't we?"

"Theoretically yes and with the results of this discharge it is most likely we can shoot down UFOs as they would approach the weapon kilometres away. Still, we have failed to take into account that such an explosion could occur. Most likely the beam interacted with the aliens' propulsion systems".

"Those are small matters now, Doctor. Right now what I want you to do is to start looking of how we can deploy this weapon throughout our country to protect it".

"The power requirements are immense. Most likely we will have to base them close to our nuclear plants in order to have the sufficient energy to fire them".

"Well, start making an estimate Doctor. I want this weapon ready to deal with any alien intrusions as soon as possible. Dismissed". The scientist was about to say something but excused himself and went away. Larianov turned to the Foreign Affairs Ministry standing close to him and say: "Inform the UN's Security Council and the Council of Funding Nations of what has just happened. Russia's just become a superpower again!"

Close to the Ural Mountains, Russian Federation

Upon receiving information about the motive behind the explosion and knowing that a nuclear explosion hadn't caused it, Colonel Boronin had immediately ordered the Skyranger to go to the location of the UFO. They had landed in what seemed to be the centre of the blast, a dozens of meters wide crater with all the trees around it projected into the ground. The troopers examining the scene had to take care on where they put their feet since the heat coming from the burnt terrain was nearly unbearable.

Major Gerasimov came near Boronin and said: "That's it. The troops have finished their sweep of the area and have found no remains of the aliens or even the UFO. Whatever they used here completely obliterated the craft and all the area around it. Now we know the reason behind Russian High Command's indifference towards this contact".

"What do you think Gerasimov? Could this be that laser we had heard about? Could they have made it to work to defend our country?"

"I don't know Colonel. I'm glad if it is that way but I also feel that this can take us out of work". 

July 15th, 1999

Geneva, Switzerland

The special session of the Council of Funding Nations had been summoned at the request of several of the Representatives and of the UN's Secretary General upon the news of the UFO's destruction in Russia. Besides the civilian delegates, Commander Illyuschenko and Doctor Chevereux were also present in representation of X-Com's military and scientific branches. The meeting was taking place in one amphitheatre located in one of the Swiss's secret facilities, with all the representatives seated in the half-circle while the Secretary General and X-Com's officers stood in a table on the middle. A large aerial photograph of the area where the explosion had taken place was being projected while Dr. Chevereux was making a presentation.

"While we are unable to exactly determine the amount of power used by the Russian beam weapon, there's reasonably evidence to assume that the weapon can concentrate enough power to take out any landed UFO if the beam stays locked enough time into target. And from our own research into Elerium it seems that the beam interfered with the containment devices used by the aliens' propulsion systems that control the matter-antimatter reaction. The readings taken by my scientific staff confirm that the resulting explosion can have far more destructive power than the detonation of a similar amount of Plutonium, and without the radiation hazards posed by the use of such a weapon, which lead into more grave matters as to what Elerium uncontrolled proliferation could bring us to. One can wonder what would have happened if the weapon destroyed one of their larger UFOs over one of our populated areas. In fact we might just have an idea about the amount of such an explosion". The image was suddenly replaced by an old black and white picture showing a snow-covered field littered with fallen trees.

"This is a picture taken in the beginning of the century at Tunguska in Siberia where there was an explosion so massive that so far science has been unable to positively explain it. Due to the isolation of the place it actually took months before word came out to civilized areas and the first expedition to it recorded reports of the natives about a huge fireball that engulfed the sky and knocked down trees as if they were toothpicks. Science so far has been unable to explain it. Theories were presented of a huge meteorite, a piece of a comet or even a miniature black hole entering Earth's atmosphere, but so far none of them has correctly explained it. However with the information we have now about the alien's presence on Earth it seems that one of their craft might have developed a malfunction that caused the Elerium power plant to explode in the upper atmosphere.

The Tunguska explosion devastated dozens of square kilometres. If this would have happened over one of our large cities the death toll could ascent to the hundred thousands. Moreover if the beam was used against fixed civilian targets, such as manufacturing facilities or oil refineries the consequences would also be incalculable, specially if one considers how many times the beam can be used". The white circle containing the blood red X on the middle replaced the image. "That is all ladies and gentlemen and I wish you have fully measured with what we are dealing here". He sat down and the UN Secretary General got up. 

"Thank you Dr. Chevereux for explaining to us what has happened since Russia won't reveal any details". He turned to the Russian delegate. "Mr. Representative, I can only plea: tell you President to share this knowledge with the rest of mankind. We need to place this achievement available to all of us here so that it can be used and controlled in the benefit of mankind". 

The Russian representative got up and replied: "Mr. Secretary, this has already been discussed into the Security Council. And let me repeat my country's position right here again: Russia will not disclose any technical details concerning this weapon. Furthermore we reserve the right to use it in any way we seem fit. The X-Com Charter allows us to do that". 

"You have a moral obligation to do it so, Mr. Klimov". The American representative suddenly got up on the other side of the half-circle. The Russian kept a cold face and replied: "Really? Interesting how you Americans have also kept to yourselves the secret of the atomic bomb for years and refused to reveal it, using it to enhance your position. I laugh at what you call 'moral obligations'. Somehow they only seem to apply if your country just found himself in a position of strategic disadvantage".

"This thing goes against every treaty ever signed between the US and the Soviet Union in terms of strategic weapons that Russia also pledged to fulfil".

"I won't even discuss that, Mr. Portdown. We have it and we are going to use it. But I'm sure my country could discuss with others the possibility that we assume also the defence of their own territory from the alien's incursions. That is, depending on the compensations offered to Russia".

Illyuschenko moved uncomfortably on his chair. If any of the countries seated here decided to take Russia's offer they would most bail out of X-Com, diminishing the support for the force and posing a lot of troubles. 

"That is blackmail and you know it! How can you be thinking only of your country at this hour?"

"Don't you Americans are so hypocrites sometimes? I would like to see what would happened if the situation was inversed?"

"Gentlemen, please stop!" Illyuschenko looked at the Secretary General in surprise. "It quite obvious that possession of such knowledge can alter the world's balance of power among nations, due to the abilities of the particle beam weapon to attack targets in another country, that including the nuclear missiles that so far have kept a deterrent in using nuclear weapons. However those questions should be addressed at the Security Council where they belong".

"And they have as we all know, Mr. Bomaka. And in a most unsatisfactory way, my country considers. But as you say those matters don't really matter to the discussion here now". The Japanese Representative sounded as enigmatic as always, making Illyuschenko wonder what was going on at that country, especially in terms of X-Com performance. The Far East team had one of the most impressive results but also had suffered severe casualties. Still the team had never called an inactive status, which was extraordinary to say the least, considering the ordeals that the other active teams had gone into.

"What we need to do is to discuss the release of such information to X-Com, according to the Charter that states that every country should contribute as much as possible". The leader of the UN had just finished his argumentation. The Russian representative was not impressed. He merely spoke in a flat tone.

"And at a country's discretion, you forgot to add. And also, the availability of funds or other military or civilian assets can be controlled by each country according to their evaluation of the unit's performance".

"We can discuss this to the letter of the law if you want Mr. Klimov. However it won't get us nowhere".

"Mr. Secretary, so far this organization has become completely egotistical. X-Com High Command treats the troops and material assigned to it as if they belong to them, where the Charter clearly states that those military units are still a part of each country's armed forces. I wouldn't be surprised if this whole situation can't even lead into confrontations between X-Com and my nation's forces, for instance, due to the pursue of distinct objectives and strategies". Illyuschenko suddenly raised himself and asked: "Was that a threat?"

"Commander, I order you to please sit down…now!" Illyuschenko had never seen the UN Secretary this distressed.

"Keep him on a leash, will you please, Mr. Bomaka?" It was Illyuschenko's time to nearly go ballistic but this time he managed to constrain himself. "As I was saying, we consider that the release of such technology to X-Com would give no significant gains to Russia and, quite on the contrary would make us gain nothing in return for all the investment we have put into it. However we are ready to discuss with other countries the possibility of using those weapons to shoot down UFOs over the territory of any nation interested on buying such protection or even installing defence facilities, providing that they are manned and guarded by Russian personnel at the whole time".

Illyuschenko looked around and saw that many of the minor countries seated of the amphitheatre were carefully judging the proposal. On the contrary, many of the major powers seemed disgusted but their leaders would in no doubt consider the proposal twice. And he felt a great fear inside, realizing the most likely result of this whole situation. 

July 16th, 1999

Air Force One, Over Illinois, US

The whole situation was beginning to put a strain on Winston. He hadn't stepped on land ever since the Russians had fired their new weapon, to prevent the Russians from making a first strike with the beam to eliminate American leadership and preventing a nuclear counterattack. All of the US major officials were also in protected locations, either aboard National Command Posts were they could all be contacted and kept safe in case the Russians decided to go completely mad. 

But worse than that was to accept the fact that they had just lost an arms race, with major political implications to the world. Against all possible chances or better judgement the US had been beaten by a nation on his throes. Worse still would be to explain to Congress and the American people why that had happened. So far no word had been leaked into the press but that could change really quickly, especially if the journalists started to notice his and other officials missing appointments and the fact that he was always aboard the Air Force One. No, something had to be done about the whole fact and he was connected to the whole National Security Council to decide.

"I've just talked to the Mr. Portdown. As with the Security Council they refuse to disclose their technology to X-Com. And they are trying to sell their defence abilities to any nation interested". Everyone on the plane and in the monitors grimaced. "You all realize what this means. Our allies can desert us and place themselves under Russian protection. And unless we pay we will be left out in the cold against the aliens. Even X-Com's need is questioned by this turn of events".

The National Security Adviser spoke on one of the monitors, her voice heavily distressed. "We could request the release of all the data gained by X-Com, but the Russians will outmanoeuvre us and threaten enough countries to block the initiative". 

"Exactly what Mr. Portdown feels, Mrs. May. I'm opened to more suggestions".

"We move to disband the force and take over X-Com's facilities and personnel in the US. We need that data sir, otherwise we are dead. Colonel Johnson isn't stupid and he will see the organization falling apart, together with the need to preserve the information to our country". 

"If we do that, the whole coalition will dissolve. Our allies wouldn't trust us anymore". The DCI cut in another monitor and her eyes turned to the right and up all of a sudden. "You can bet they are already discussing to place themselves on the Russian's boat". 

"Stop, both of you. I will take all suggestions under consideration, but so far I'm not happy with what I've heard and I need to know more". The Chairman of the JCS jumped in at the suggestion, but not very much convinced.

"We could stage an attack with our Stealth bombers, but air detection abilities have been improved in that area and there's a risk that the attack planes will be discovered and shot down".

"Even the A-17s?" The DCI asked.

"The A-17s are only know about to reach operational status and the crews aren't yet familiar enough with the attack plane. An a sabotage mission is also out of the question. The crew would most likely be discovered on their way to the target. Besides using nuclear weapons there's no other way to destroy the facility and even then we could only expect a nuclear response by the Russians. That also applies if they discover we are behind the attack".

Winston shook its head. "We need more time. We shall start by seeing how we can catch up with the Russians and in how many months or years. Then I will decide".

Vice-President Longstreet spoke in a matter of urgency as he was about to dismiss them. "Mr. President, this can't last for very long. I'm starting to organize my campaign to be your replacement and I can't do things from aboard a plane".

"I completely agree with you in the point of being airborne". He turned to the director of the Secret Service who was closing next to him. "Make a timetable so that two Cabinet members are at safe locations the whole time. Include the House Speaker on that list since he gets the job in case something happens to me or the VP".

London, United Kingdom

"You know how many years it has been from I last came here?" Two looked at the Thames from the third floor of a building facing the River, addressing a man well into his late forties.

"I can imagine but there's no time for that. Your communication was quite unexpected I must say".

"Desperate times take desperate measures. In our line of work that can be a risk but also there can be no alternative".

"I've been informed of what is happening in Siberia with the Russians. Anything to do with that?"

"Yes, but much more also. You will find out when it's time, either through me or some other means".

"Loyalties are hard-earned here. You still trust me?"

"You understand certain needs. Pretty soon you might find yourself in a place to act upon them. And I have a particular interest on who occupies that position".

"I won't ask where since I know that I wouldn't give me any answer. However I take that this request for a meeting says that I might be required something later on the future".

"You are correct. You might". 

"A sleeper then?"

"A last resort card if you want to really know. But if the time comes you will understand why".

"As I always did. That's why neither of us never really considered bringing down the other. Too many secrets to tell".

"And even darker ones to stay hidden between both".

"Knowledge is a blade with two edges. It can strike both ways. I learned that much from you". 

"Indeed. That is why we both will have to be particularly careful on this one. A lot here is at stake and failure can make us loose everything".

"In that case I shall be ready. Just be prudent in what you ask".

"For the time being I only ask you to do what you do best. The rest will come much later in the future, if it comes at all". 

July 17th, 1999

Azamas 36, Russian Federation

The sentinels outside of the main entrance to the Security Command Centre were trying to stay alert, although being on watch for almost six hours now was taking a toll on their attention. The base had been on full alert for some days now and everyone knew about the weapon that was being housed and the terrifying power it possessed. But at the same time, the sentinels didn't pay much attention to the orders. Who would be crazy enough to attack a heavily guarded facility in the middle of Russia? They just had shrugged as they had heard the orders. At least they would still be able to go into the city and see a movie at the local theater or get some more decent food.

The bunker and the barracks that housed the military personnel marked the end of the civilian area of the city and stood on the middle of one of the sides of the triangle formed by the research facility, laser bunker and nuclear reactor. To the right of the guards a fenced road lead into the facility that housed the weapon and the highway continued to the East where it met the research facility. Some five hundred meters in front of them was the barbed wire gate that lead into the civilian areas.

A set of lights could be seeing coming on the road from the city and approaching the guard post at the gate. The sentinels relaxed as they saw the jeep with the two uniformed men seating up front. Relief came over them as both realized that the shift was over and that they could finally get some sleep. The gate opened and the vehicle drove through, covering the space between the fence and the Centre, until finally stopping at a spot on the garrison's parking lot in the garrison's motor poll. Both troopers jumped outside and started heading for the sentinels, making sure that their parkas were well worn. One of the guards turned to the soldiers approaching, unable to tell their faces because of the dim light.

"Hey Oleg, you are actually on time tonight. What happened? The night went wrong in the city?" None of the soldiers responded and kept walking towards them. When they were almost reaching the circular light project by the lamp on top of the sentinels, the one who talked started speaking again.

"Oleg? You drunk too much already and you can't speak?" He smiled but when both men stepped into the light, he became puzzled. "Who are you? Why has Oleg not come back from the city?" Both men suddenly raised their right hands and the last thing the guards noticed were two strange looking barrels coming from the cuffs of the military jackets. Two green flashes suddenly appeared and both men were projected backwards, their dead bodies landing on the floor. At the same time the guards at the gate dropped suddenly to the floor, both hit in their heads by heavy calibre rounds that had been shot by hidden snipers. The two soldiers grabbed them and hid their bodies behind one truck and then assumed their positions by the door. 

Far Side of the Moon

The Sectoid Commander was seated in the command chair in one of the alien's bigger UFOs on the fleet that was hidden behind the Moon to avoid Terran detection. The alien leadership had been surprised at the destruction of one of their smaller scout ships by the energy beam weapon, but measures had already been taken to deal with this nuisance. The humans had been interfering for too long with their plans, he considered as he looked at the three dimensional screen in front of him. As the alien watched the graphic representation of Sol Three and its natural satellite, his attention changed from the cluster of dots that represented his fleet, hidden behind the natural satellite, to a smaller one, that was now about to enter the planet's atmosphere. 

July 18th, 1999

X-Com Russian Command, Stalingrad Base, Caucasus, Russian Federation

Colonel Boronin started noticing that something was wrong on the dream he was having. He was dreaming of monsters that came and pursued him in the dark, while he could only run away, until he started to pay attention to a rhythmical sound. Looking around him, he couldn't perceive the origin of the sound and as he tried to focus more on it he suddenly become more conscious. He was on his bed he finally noticed but the room had a strange pulsating colour. And the alarm on his desk was going on, giving a large beep every two seconds while pulsing red. 

He jumped out of his bed and went to the desk, pressing the intercom button and connecting to the Command room. Taking a moment to clear his head he then spoke: 

"Boronin here. What is going on?"

"Colonel, this is Captain Likhachev. The Air Force has just detected an alien fleet entering the atmosphere and going to Russian airspace".

"How many UFOs?"

"Unsure sir, since they are flying close together and masking their radar signatures. But some have radar tracks equivalent to their Terror Ships".

"Get all the men ready. I will be right there in five minutes". He went to the closet in his room, opened it and got out an X-Com combat jumpsuit. After getting inside it he closed the zippers and got out the combat boots. He sat on his bed while putting them on, his hands checking the strength of the alien alloys that had been placed over them. Going over to the closet again he grabbed his Type 17 armour, put it over his back and headed out for the door.

When Boronin reached the Command Room the whole place was in an organized chaos. He spotted Likhachev and went up to him. The Captain noticed him and said:

"Sir, Russian High Command is not requesting our assistance".

"Hum?" Boronin had gotten himself a chair and had started to put on his armour while Likhachev was talking. He stopped adjusting his leg plates and looked at him.

"They are going to use the laser on them as soon as they land. Mir Space Station is already in place and ready. They say that our presence isn't necessary".

"Let's hope they are right then Captain. We have both seen what that weapon can do, but I have a really bad feeling about all this".

Azamas 36, Siberia, Russian Federation

In spite of the late hours in the night, the underground laser control facility was being fully manned 24 hours a day to deal with any further UFO intrusions into Russian territory. And the Colonel in charge of the night shift was struggling to keep himself awake when one of the soldiers manning the communications console suddenly nearly jumped out of his chair and turned to him.

"Sir! Air Defence Command reports a fleet of alien vessels coming through over the Artic. And their re-entry vector shows them to be heading towards our location!" The young enlisted private seemed in panic, having only entered service at the facility some weeks ago.

The officer rubbed his eyes to make sure that he was completely awake and start shouting orders in the room. He had been present at the shoot down of the first UFO and knew the capabilities of the weapon that was above him. Feeling confident, he started giving orders to the technicians in the room. 

"Sound general alarm. Prepare the particle weapon and start feeding it the telemetry and radar data from Air Defence. And contact General Yurinov at headquarters and require is presence here". He watched as the other occupants in the chamber followed his orders. While he noticed them, he saw that they had a bit of apprehension in their motions. Pretty soon all of that will be over, he thought. Now we can fight back.

The technician who had driven him out of his nearly sleeping state turned to him again, puzzled. "Sir. I can't reach the military garrison barracks. That area doesn't answer to any of my calls".

"Are you sure? Try again but use the phone. Probably there's a problem with the base radio". 

"Already did sir. Nobody there picks up the phone". The Colonel reached his chin with his hand and started thinking. He applied immediately his first idea: "Try the other buildings!" But he knew of nothing else to do at the moment. He considered the possibility of an attack, but discarded it. If the aliens had come, their craft would have been detected. Or would it not?

"The research facility reports nothing out of the ordinary. The nuclear power plant says the same. And the military checkpoints are all into full alert status, although their voices sounded a bit asleep". There, he considered. Any attack or approach would have been noticed by now. "Status of the ships and the particle cannon?"

Another technician also at a console two seats to the left answered him: "We are targeting one of the bigger ships that are approaching us and are ready to fire when it reaches range. Due to the size of the craft and the fact that it is on the weapon's horizon, it is better if we don't use the Mir dish in order to don't lose an exaggerated amount of power to atmosphere bleeding. We will be engaging them at a shorter range, but one way or the other we will make them drop out of the skies". The Colonel nodded and turning to a lieutenant he ordered: "Get a patrol and a car and go check the phone lines. There must be a problem with them". The officer nodded and headed towards the exit doors. 

All men in the room had their attention focused on the aliens ships and so, they did not pay attention anymore to the younger officer has he opened the security doors. But sudden gunfire made them all turn. Doing a half-turn, the Colonel saw that a group of Russian troopers were entering the room through the opened doors, carefully avoiding the lieutenant's body on the floor and firing their AK-74 assault rifles. "What is going on? What do you think you are doing!?" He shouted when speechless as one of the technicians on his side took a full burst in his torso and his body jerked with the incoming projectiles on the chair were he was seated. The console became red with blood as he finally collapsed into it. Across the room the other operators were starting to run and the Colonel took cover behind another console. On his side he heard the private in charge of communications screaming: "..Command we are under attack! Repeat! We are…arrrgggh!" His voice was replaced bythe sound of an assault rifle being discharged at full automatic mode. The officer went for his sidearm and brought it out of his holster, but as he was trying to get the safety off he felt someone was approaching his position. Turning his body to face the threat he saw that one of the invaders had come close to him carrying a smoking AK-74. He raised his arms in an attempt to surrender, but the figure simply pointed the weapon at his head and pressed the trigger. The Colonel's head exploded and painted the area nearby him with encephalic mass. The men dressed in Russian military fatigues stopped for a moment over his body and then proceed on eliminating the last remains of resistance in the control room. 

Earth's Orbit

As the flotilla of alien vessels was approaching the Azamas 36 complex, one of the craft suddenly detached itself from the formation and started heading out back to space. Within minutes the Russian aerospace controllers back at Air Force HQ had determined his new destiny and froze into place upon the realization of the large UFO's destiny. They immediately sent an alert transmission but they knew already that Mir Space Station was doomed as long as all the crewmembers inside.

Without the protection dispensed by the particle weapon, the largest man made object in Earth's orbit was nothing more than a big target hanging on space. Upon receival of the notification alerting for the incoming craft, the crewmembers immediately went to the work of preparing the Soyuz lifeboat attached to the Space Station that would enable them to flee. Unfortunately it was too late for either them or the space facility.

The first blast discharged by the Terror Ship upon reaching maximum range for its weapons travelled freely upon space, unhampered by the restrictions posed by Earth's atmosphere and hit the Spektr module, immediately cutting through the fuselage. The force of the plasma beam then found the air present inside the compartment and reacted with it, with the end result being an explosion that completely obliterated the module. Despite the blast all the inside hatches were locked which prevented the loss of the entire station. 

There was no air in space to allow for the propagation of sounds but the crewmembers were immediately projected to one side as the loss of module threw the station into an uncontrolled spin. Bones were broken as their bodies hit the bulkheads and equipment placed on the walls of the station. The navigational computers still operating immediately started to use nitrogen jets to control the station but the damage had been too extensive. Pressed to one side of the Mir by the inertia provoked by the inertial movement the crewmembers tried to get to the Soyuz and detached it from the station in a last attempt to survive.

A series of blasts from the alien craft then hit again the station, one of them obliterating the escape module and the others indiscriminately hitting the solar panels and other parts attached to the main core of the station. Satisfied with its work, the UFO then stopped and headed back into Earth to join the alien wave that was about to assault Azamas 36. On board the main core of the Mir, the six Russian cosmonauts inside were still alive but not for long. The life-support systems had ceased to function and they were starting to fall back into Earth's atmosphere. 

Kremlin, Moscow, Russian Federation

President Larianov knew that something was wrong as he heard the steps again on his bedroom. He had been awaken before because of the alien flotilla headed towards Azamas 36 but had decided on going back to his sleep when his military commanders had told him that the weapon would be more than capable of dealing with the invaders and keeping them away from the particle weapon. Now, still sleepy he turned in anger to the person that was entering the room again and saw that it was the same aide as before:

"What is it now? Can't the military buffoons do anything about me? Haven't they shot down the flotilla yet?" The aide stopped on his tracks, looking as if he desperately wanted in that moment a hole to hide himself. "Azamas 36 reported being under attack ten minutes ago, sir…"

"Weren't they already under attack some half an hour ago? Why haven't the particle beam weapon destroyed their ships yet?!" Larianov went out of his bed and stood up, looking at the aide and demanding a quick answer.

"They were getting ready to fire it when suddenly they reported an attack and went off the air. We can't raise them on the radio them since then and the UFOs are getting close".

The full realization of what was happening hit Larianov straight like a slap on the face and he managed not to drop to the floor by seating himself on the bed.

"The weapon hadn't fired…? They….are going to destroy the weapon…our last hope is gone…" The aide tried to see if he was all right but for the next five minutes Larianov stayed mute on the bed, his eyes fixated on the ceiling. 

_André Galvão, 2001_


	12. Broken Shells

X-Com – The Unknown Menace

Chapter Eleven – Broken Shells

July 18th, 1999

X-Com Russian Command, Stalingrad Base, Caucasus, Russian Federation

The officers of the Russian team where at the base's planning room going over maps and troop deployments when Colonel Boronin walked inside and closed the door behind him. Taking a deep breath first, he then spoke: "Our country's government has asked us to try to retain control of the research facility and save the remaining scientific personnel and to secure the laser".

Looking over at the map of Azamas 36, the other two men spat and cursed. Gerasimov spoke first: "They are crazy! The third Skyranger is down on maintenance. We can only deploy two platoons of men and we are facing a horde of killer aliens of unknown strength".

"How far is assistance?" Boronin turned to Likhachev, lifted to his eyes the papers he was holding on his left hand and replied: "Six hours after we touchdown, according to Red Army information. We might have some air support since the Air Force is preparing to bomb the aliens' ships".

"Don't they have regular forces down there? That is a top-secret research facility! Or has someone upstairs been diverting money into his own pockets instead of using it to have his men operational?" Gerasimov just shook is head in disbelief. 

"They had one battalion of regular infantry plus Ministry of the Interior paramilitary forces. But the aliens assured that the Command Centre was one of the first places that got hit. They reported being under attack and went off the air almost immediately. At the best they must be putting a disorganized resistance and will be defeated almost for sure". 

Gerasimov seemed as if he was going to have a stroke. He was almost shouting as he continued: "Colonel, we can't possibly hold out six hours then, specially if we divide the team. We don't know their strength and Air Defence have reported tracking several alien ships inbound for the complex. The aliens will have destroyed the particle weapon by the time we arrive. God only knows why they haven't done yet, since it would appear it is their primary target, but it isn't sane to go defend something that is undefendable!"

Boronin nodded his head in agreement. "I just have been talking to Commander Illyuschenko, who gave me somewhat different orders. Luckily for us he doesn't share of our government's lack of aptitude for taking military decisions. We are to deploy the full force to secure the research facility. If possible we will try to ascertain of the situation of the laser by sending a reconnaissance mission. We presently don't have any up to date photos. The ones we have were taken two hours ago at the beginning of the attack. Since then the aliens started attacking any planes that come near the area and Air Force doesn't want to risk loosing more planes".

"Six hours trying to hold out and still have to see if their precious toys are intact". Gerasimov cursed, unable to conceive his disgust at the whole situation. 

"And I want you to do it, Gerasimov". Boronin looked at the lower officer with a sense of urgency. The Major hit the table with the palm of his hand but looked back with a sense of acceptance of his orders. "I should have known this was coming. I take it that the Captain won't mind", he turned to Likhachev who was smiling. "All right, you got yourself a volunteer".

"Start making your list of whom you want to take".

"Right. Have we received the batch of the new portable heavy lasers from Mother One?"

"The technicians have finished calibrating them. They are yours if you want them".

"I don't think I will need them, specially because of their size. Better if you keep them with you Colonel".

"Very well. Go and brief your platoons. We are leaving in two hours". 

Mother One, Black Forest, Germany

Eva Johannes only noticed that something peculiar was going on when she headed out for mess hall to have her breakfast. She had found strange that most of the corridors leading from her quarters to the mess were conspicuously empty at that hour in the morning, but she just shrugged it off, anxious to get her breakfast and go back to examining the possibilities of the new Russian weapon. There wasn't much to work with, since they had kept all the research for themselves, but she suspected the breakthrough they had achieved on particle beam weapons could be applied with the dilemma of understanding how the alien weapons worked.

When she entered the mess hall, she saw a group of people clustering in the recreational area of the base, all looking at the television sets placed there for personnel entertainment. She couldn't understand what it was all about since the room was separated by a sound proof window from the dining area, so she headed out there. When she opened the door, she noticed the cold silence inside. The troopers, technicians and scientists were all mute looking at a news broadcast made by CNN. She spotted Lejeune, the French scientist and moved closer to him, uneasy about what could be happening. When she reached him, she touched him on the shoulder to get his attention and asked: "Pierre what is happening?"

The other scientist almost jumped at her touch and turned to her. Upon seeing who it was he relaxed and replied: "Base command made an announcement some half and hour ago that the aliens had mounted a big assault upon Russia".

"A big assault?"

"Oui. The number of UFOs used by the aliens surpasses everything they have ever used against us". 

"Do you mean they are finally invading?" The scientist suddenly felt her blood turn cold. Every X-Com member lived with the grim expectation that some day the aliens would unleash into a full-scale assault on Earth. Only God knew why they hadn't done it so far but everyone had assumed that it would come.  The realization had been most disturbing, like a Damocles sword posed over their heads that would eventually drop and cut them down, but it had also galvanized them into action, making sure that time and resources weren't wasted.

"That's what everyone here is trying to see right now, but CNN speaks nothing of it. There are some reports of a terrorist attack on Siberia, apparently the work of religious fanatics. Those lunatics sure have appeared out of nowhere in the past months". The reference to the fanatics was something of an inside joke in X-Com. Most of the alien aggression so far had been labelled as terrorist groups by the governments of the world and the media. But everyone on X-Com knew what really was happening there and shared a dry laugh every time the word came printed on newspapers or spoken in the television sets. 

Eva took a deep breath but then another disturbing thought came to her. "Where did they say the attack was?"

The French scientist raised his shoulders. "Some small city in Siberia. At least it's Russian Command area of operations, so we won't be put into a full alert and unable to leave base until the whole situation gets resolved. I was thinking of going out tonight to change a bit our diet of the food we get here. Would you like to come?"

The thought that was lingering inside her suddenly become clear. She didn't reply him, as she wasn't paying attention to him anymore. Instead she was already on his way to talk to Dr. Chevereux and find out where the attack was. 

1048 Zulu (Local Time), Siberia, Russian Federation

The two Skyrangers from the Russian team were racing across the Siberian steppe grass to get to their destination and each second was precious. An American satellite had managed to take some photographs of the Area, taking advantage of an opening in the cloud cover but they didn't help much. The UFO's apparently had landed directly on the civilian areas of the city, which was an enigma for all Russian X-Com officers. So far the aliens were acting as if this was just another terrorist attack, not a strike posed to destroy the enemy's assets. The laser bunker, nuclear power plant and the laboratories and engineering workshops seemed pretty much intact, but the destroyed military installations that housed the security detail were burning and releasing a lot of smoke in the early afternoon air.

"Any word from the Japanese or Chinese teams?" Boronin asked Likhachev. The dark haired short officer just shook its head. "Chen, as usual, claims that they don't have resources to help us. And the last communication from Complex YY-18 say that they are readying two platoons, one of the new mobile tanks and another of infantry but they timetable puts their arrival too far away. Most likely we will get assistance from our country's forces first".

"Great. Any word from the defenders at the facility?"

"Still no radio communications after their initial reports of an attack. We can only assume the worst".

"Tell the men to be prepared for anything. At least we won't be fighting at night, although this fucking fog could lift up a little. I hope that the pilot knows what he's doing. Flying this close to the ground in zero visibility is insane!" Ending abruptly the conversation, Boronin went back to his seat. 

Area 51, Nevada, US

Johnson was at the base gym working out to help the final recovery of his injured muscles when Forrester walked inside dressed in a combat jumpsuit. He approached the Colonel and said: "Colonel, sorry for disturbing your training but I would like to talk to you". 

He nodded back and got out of the machine he was using and grabbed a towel to clean the sweat off his fore brow. "I'm listening".

"Upon Major Patterson's suggestion I've seen the base psychiatric since the mission and it was decided to put me off active missions for the moment. Things haven't been easy Colonel and I am the first one to acknowledge it. I apologise for my mistake and let you know that I will try not to disappoint you again". The man managed to speak it with no pauses although it was clear that some strong emotions were stirring inside him. 

Johnson nodded. "For me there are no need for apologies here but I will accept them Forrester. No one could have had imagined that a Sectoid was able to climb up the wall of a barn using only his body". 

"Still, I consider it to be my personal fault, sir. And I would like to know if the alert status for the entire ground assault also applies to me sir. I'm ready to any mission that comes up, I really am, Colonel, and I need the new chance, if you think I'm ready to it. I had my own problems but I can do it sir".

Now here's a hard decision, Johnson told to himself. Forrester was one of the officers in base with more combat experience fighting the aliens, besides him. But at the same time all the bitter fighting and the endless casualties had affected him. Asking to be placed on combat missions to prove one another could came up wrong. But at least the man admitted it. "Tell you what. You will be in a semi-active status. If something's up meanwhile I will then take it into consideration".

"Fair enough. Thank you Colonel".

1112 Zulu, Siberia, Russian Federation

Some twenty minutes later, both Skyrangers slowed their speed and quietly descended into the ground, the blast from the engines lifting up loose gravel and burning the steppe small vegetation. When the ramps of the craft came down, the X-Com squads started to pour out, their armour painted on the journey to sport an artic and forest camouflage, and quickly established a safety perimeter around the craft. Occasional gunfire could be heard to the southwest, the direction of the Azamas 36. 

Boronin stuck with Second Platoon, while telling Major Gerasimov to start to move out towards the research facility. The Skyrangers had approached the facility from the West and had taken a flight path that resembled a semicircle upon as they approached the complex, to avoid over flying the area. The planes had dropped the team ten kilometres Northeast of it, quickly lift up again to move to a safer location. First Platoon quickly moved and the remaining of the team followed them.

Boronin ordered the trooper carrying the satellite communications radio to keep close to him as they crossed the taiga forest that separated the landing zone from the research facility. There were no friendly units in the area and if something happened to the radio they would be stranded in the middle of a hot zone full of aliens. And although First Platoon had spread itself on a loose line in front, there was always the possibility than an alien patrol would spot them and try to circle the whole company, so everyone was keeping a sharp eye into every direction. 

Boronin had a position in the middle of the line and suddenly he saw that all the troopers in front of him were stopping and dropping down to their knees. He did the same and activated the command circuit on his personal short-range radio. "Ivan, what is happening up there?"

Major Gerasimov's replied to him: "The forest has just cleared and we have reached the outer security fence of the city".

"Well, get someone to cut a hole on it"

"Already have Aleksander and Mikhail on it. But the thing is rigged with mines, it will take some time for them to clear it out".

"Tell them to hurry up then. We can't be still here for too long".

"Understood". When Gerasimov stopped talking, Boronin looked in front. He thought he could spot the fence since there was a strange feature at the bottom of the light blue horizon. He then turned around and saw that they were completely vulnerable out there. His men were all down, trying to conceal themselves, but if one of the UFOs flew over their position they would be immediately spotted. He dropped completely to the almost sterile ground, covered with moss and sparse vegetation and waited. Most of the snow had melted by now and there was mud everywhere. He saw that the X-Com members close to him had already started to cover their uniforms with the mud to help out on their camouflage. He decided to do the same while waiting and when he was done he looked at his watch. At the rate of movement they were going it would take them some more hours before reaching their objective. If the aliens didn't spotted them first. Tense minutes passed as he waited.

The radio came alive again. "They are done. The picket on the left side has spotted a group of aliens on patrol on the other side of the fence coming into our direction". Boronin cursed and spoke back:

"Are they done with the fence yet?"

 "I was about to get everyone moving again when the alarm come. What you want us to do?" Boronin weighted his options: if the aliens spotted the hole on the fence they for sure would report it back and investigate, which was dangerous for the team since it would put the aliens on alert. On the other hand if they took care of the patrol they most likely wouldn't find out about it until they sent another patrol to check it out and by that time the X-Com team would be close to their target. To help his decision the radio came alive again:

"Picket says the aliens are of a new race that look like snakes". Doubt came into Boronin's mind. A new alien race would mean that they were dealing with an unknown enemy. They needed to know more about these new creatures.

"Get ready to take them down but wait for me if possible. I'm coming there to see them myself. Tell the men to use only lasers to make less sound". He started going through the line of concealed soldiers. When he passed Likhachev the Captain nodded, telling him that he had listened to the whole conversation.

After some more minutes he reached First Platoon's line that was some two hundred meters away from the security fence, which was full of lights, mine warning signs and two parallel rows of three metre tall barbed wire. Most likely there were detection devices in the space in-between both fences, but he dismissed them since they must have been disabled by now or the people who were supposed to be on guard at the alarms were dead. Using hand signals he asked the trooper close to him for the Major's position. The X-Com squaddie pointed left. Good, at least the aliens haven't reached his position yet he thought otherwise the shooting would have started by now. Trying to crawl as quickly as possible he finally reached Gerasimov, who was lying behind one rock, trying to blend himself with the landscape as much as possible. The Major looked at him, gave the Colonel his binoculars and pointed to the left side. Boronin got himself a conceal position and looked.

He saw a group of four brown aliens that seemed as tall as an average human moving on the other side of the fence. He thought their movement was sluggish until he noticed the reason. Instead of legs or any type of bipedal limbs, the creatures were standing up in what seemed to be a massive snake tail as large as the abdomen to which was connected on the body. The reptilian shaped head, with one large fang on each jaw and the grey eyes it possessed added more to the similarly with a serpent standing on its tail. But this serpent had arms and massive ones that ended on hands carrying objects. Boronin identified them as the alien weapons they had seen before. Two plasma rifles and two of their larger plasma cannons. Not good. Just one shot of the rifles could get through the armour the X-Com troopers were wearing.

Boronin then noticed that the aliens were slow, even for a patrol. He saw then that the tail movement, going forward and then pushing the rest of the body made them slow compared to any man on his team. But what about the rest of the abilities of these Snakemen? He gave back the binoculars to Gerasimov and slowly got his laser rifle into position. 

The group of four aliens kept advancing until the extraterrestrial that was on point duty suddenly stopped, some meters away from the whole cut into the fences. He was about to turn and warn the others about it when Gerasimov ordered into the radio: "Now!"

A score of laser beams suddenly headed out for the four aliens, some of them reflecting white as the high-energy photons interacted with the oxygen and nitrogen atoms present in the air, instead of the common gold Boronin was used to. The heavy lasers were doing their debut on the Russian team's hands.

The point alien immediately went down, together with another one on the back, but the remaining two stood up. The one next to the point alien took two laser shots on his torso and didn't dropped dead, although green goo started to come out of his body. The other one took a heavy laser hit on the right arm that nearly made him drop his plasma rifle. They immediately turned into the direction of the Russian team and started firing back, although their shots were misguided and missed all the concealed troopers. Boronin put his weapon into autofire and start firing back again at them, but he missed all three shots. It didn't matter since the laser fire of the team cut down the remaining Snakemen and they dropped on the steppe grass.

The X-Com troopers stayed on their positions waiting to see if the confrontation had been heard by other patrols close. Boronin waited in fear that they could be hunted down from this minute. Suddenly he saw movement.

One of the aliens that were laying on the ground was starting to get up again. Another laser shot come from the right, bringing it down again. Don't these things know when to die, Boronin asked himself? More minutes went by until finally Gerasimov told his men to move over the fence and secure the other side. The whole team started to get out of its concealed positions and as Gerasimov was passing Boronin, the Colonel turned to him and said: 

"Tell one of the men to get one of those bodies. The scientists back the base need to discover as much as possible from these Snakemen". The Major nodded and after some seconds Boronin went after him in the direction of the hole in the fence. 

1240 Zulu

Boronin kept watching the research facility from a distance through a set of binoculars. They hadn't met any other alien patrols on their way and the whole complex of buildings seemed deserted from a distance. He had sent Captain Likhachev and his platoon to check it out and was waiting with Gerasimov, fearing that the radio would announce that the facility was crawling with aliens.

When Likhachev came back on the radio to inform that they had found the laboratories clear he turned to the Major. "Get your men and head out to the bunker. Watch out for the air strike in half an hour. Good luck Vanya and stay out of trouble". The other man nodded and left. Boronin got up and went to join his troops that had now started to came out of the main building's entrance. 

1258 Zulu, Vicinity of Azamas 36, Siberia, Russian Federation

Major Anatoly Gregory looked at the radar screen and saw that the large UFO was still hovering Azamas 36, escorted by two smaller ones. The Il-76 Midas Airborne Early Warning plane had detected his lift-off as they begun to approach the area, in doubt as a response to the number of Russian Air Force fighters and bombers that were converging into the area. He was in command of a flight of MiG-29K Fulcrum fighters and his job, together with the other flights of MiG-31 and Su-27 interceptors was to clear a path for the bombers to level the UFOs on the ground.

The air controller had already informed them that the plan would consist for the MiG-31 Foxhounds to launch their long-range R-33 or AA-9 missiles first, depending on the Russian or NATO designation, which could attack targets at nearly one hundred miles. According to the tactical briefing the intruders possessed a weapon that could engage and destroy planes at more than seventy miles away and all the pilots had been ordered to perform evasive manoeuvres upon when they entered that range.

That had draw a serious of questions from all the pilots about what they were facing but the General in charge had merely shrugged them off by telling that it was classified information. Gregory had found it also strange that they would be using tactics normally used at close range and seated on the cockpit of his MiG he hoped that the plane's agility would be enough.

The fighter he was flying was the latest version of the MiG-29 Fulcrum, designed by the Soviet Union to be the counterpart of the US agile F-16 Fighting Falcon. All the Fulcrums on his flight carried four R-27 medium range air-to-air missiles (AAMs) and two smaller range R-73. It was his weapons mix that worried him the most. Unlike the active range radar guided R-33s carried by the Foxhounds or the latest R-77 that were equipping the Sukhois, his missiles needed in-flight guidance from his radar, which severely limited his ability to launch missiles while dodging the enemy's fire. In spite the fact that his Fighter Regiment was a Guard unit and in name one of the best in Russia, they had yet to see any of the latest R-77s.

The call from the air controller came to his headphones. "All flight leaders be advised: we have detected a very large contact taking off the ground and positioning itself in front of the other targets. Primary target is now that contact. MiG-31s start your attack runs". Still at more than 140 kilometres away from the contacts and flying on a clear sky with few clouds at three thousand meter altitude, Gregory engaged the afterburner to use the about to be released missile barrage in order to get closer and the rest of his flight followed.

1305 Zulu, Azamas 36, Siberia, Russian Federation

Almost all of the X-Com personnel not presently on guard duty had gathered on the main's laboratory roof to see the results of the incoming aerial melee. While it was safer to be waiting in a protected position, the Air Force had strict orders not to even overflow the facility to minimize the risks of collateral damage to it.

When the very large UFO took off from the city, all the men looking at it through the binoculars gasped in fear. That was for sure the largest alien craft ever reported and while they couldn't tell the details because of the distance it looked big enough to almost occupy a city block. When it joined the other UFOs hovering the city Boronin could see that it was almost the double of the ship the aliens used for their terror attacks.

Then, all of the sudden it started to vomit what seemed to be miniature suns because of their brightness, which quickly disappeared into the horizon. Boronin turned to Likhachev and asked: "What do you think is that?!" The other officer removed his binoculars from his eyes and replied: "I don't know sir, but I think the Air Force is about to discover". 

1308 Zulu, Vicinity of Azamas 36, Siberia, Russian Federation

The sudden acceleration saved the MiG-29 flight. Gregory suddenly saw an orange ball coming in the horizon and his first thought was of how the Sun could be in that position. But as it approached more and more until finally passing through he realized that something very wrong was happening. A shock wave suddenly scattered his flight of planes and two of the MiG-29 would have collided into one another if not for one of the pilot's skills. He moved the control stick between his legs to regain control of his craft and as he levelled it he immediately turned his body to follow whatever type of weapon that was.

He was greeted with a wave of light that made him close his eyes. The alien weapon had detonated close to one of the Su-27s producing a massive fireball that consumed the four fighters in the flight in seconds leaving nothing behind except dark smoke. Other blacks spots in the sky told that several of those missiles had been fired and a look to his radio told him the terrible causalities that they had just suffered. Gregory immediately ordered his flight to break formation and start evasive manoeuvres and demanded explanations from the air controller.

"What is going on? You told us that they would engage at seventy kilometres, not one hundred and twenty!" The officer ignored those and other questions by simply ordering the remaining MiG-31s to fire and all the other fighters to make their intercept runs. Gregory thought of telling him to go to hell and call back the mission but he knew better. Someone had screwed up big time here and if they didn't managed to complete the job he would also be blamed for it. He keyed the radio button on his left side thrust control stick".

"Knife flight we have been ordered to proceed. Good luck and let's hope that we won't meet in hell". Time to go to business".

1312 Zulu, Azamas 36, Siberia, Russian Federation

As the first R-33 long range missiles launched by the remaining MiG-31 flights started to close into their target, the sky over the around the research facility become quickly filled with while trails marking the missiles flight paths. But more terrifying was the vision of the sky over the city.

The guided missiles started to impact upon the UFO, creating big fireballs in the sky and filling the air with smoke that obscured the craft and made it disappear to the X-Com troopers. They all kept looking it hope, but when plasma beams started to penetrate the smoke curtain and head out to the distance, together with the minisuns they had seen before, the team knew that the UFO was still flying had not survived but was waging a powerful counter-attack. The minutes went by as they kept waiting, still thinking that there might be a chance. 

1319 Zulu, Vicinity of Azamas 36, Siberia, Russian Federation

The MiG-29 that Major Gregory was flying rocked again as another of the enemy's powerful missiles exploded on the air and took one of the fighters on his flight. Half the planes under his command had been already shot down, with the first one falling through the use of sort of energy weapon.

And pretty soon the bombers would start their attack runs. Would they, Gregory wondered in fear? His radar told him that few fighters remained airborne and so far the missile impacts on the enemy didn't had any visible effect with the four contacts still airborne. Wait! The large plane had just started moving, in no doubt to deal with the remaining planes.

Major Gregory almost went to panic, realizing that they had no chance against both targets. He was sure of what would happen to him when if he managed to return to the base, but at least he would be still alive. Taking his fighter to a heavy-g pull to the left he disengaged and levelled his plane at the opposite direction, performing some dodging manoeuvres as he withdrew at full afterburner. No word come from his wingman, so Gregory assumed that he either was already killed or had decided to follow him.

When he looked on the radar to seek for him a most fearful sight made him shudder on the cockpit. The second UFO was pursuing him and despite that his MiG-29 was flying at more than Mach 1.5 the craft more than doubled it. What are those things, his mind trying to come up with a logical explanation until finally a plasma beam put an end to any more thoughts. 

1329 Zulu, Azamas 36, Siberia, Russian Federation

As the minutes went by over the scheduled time for the bombers to make their attack, Gerasimov started wondering what had happened as he was laying upon the ground. The team was waiting until it was finished to prevent being hit by a stray bomb or missile, but there were no explosions or shock waves coming through the ground from the city. He decided that the air strike hadn't been successful some unknown reason and ordered both his squads to start heading again for the weapon bunker. They had already wasted too much time in the same area taking cover from the supposed bombardment. 

1403 Zulu, Azamas 36, Siberia, Russian Federation

After the failed aerial attack the team guard the laboratories prepared for the hours long wait until the Russian forces would arrive, if they ever arrive, Boronin had told himself but had hidden these thoughts from the his men and officers. He had immediately set sentry stations when the team had reached the facility to keep an eye on possible alien patrols, and a pair of X-Com troopers were outside the main laboratory's entrance hidden from view and looking for possible hostiles. The facility had a triangular disposition, with a main rectangular building to where the road from the military garrison ended. On both his sides there were two sets of smaller buildings, with testing and manufacturing roles along with the administrative offices. The Russian team couldn't possibly have the manpower to defend the whole complex, so they had concentrated their efforts on the main building. They had combed the whole installation but had found no scientists around. It wasn't logical to expect that many people since the alien attack had been at night when most of the personnel would be sleeping on their homes at the city but there had been hope that there might be survivors inside. The Sun was still high in the Siberian landscape, although clouds were obscuring it more often.

Both troopers had taken position in the remains of a security checkpoint outside the building and one of them was scanning the area around with a pair of binoculars. At least the ground was clear for many miles, with the exception of an area one kilometre to the southeast that had large bushes and small trees. Still, if someone trying to approach the facility from there it would have to go over a large distance of open ground with almost no cover.

The X-Com squaddie suddenly noticed some movement in that area. He saw a dark spot suddenly disappearing and decided to warn his comrade. "Vanya, see if pick anything at 2 o'clock". The other trooper turned on his left side.

"I got it. There's something moving over there and terribly fast at it".

"I'm gonna warn the Colonel. It seems they have found us".

Boronin had set up his command post in one of the larger laboratories inside the building. The aliens didn't have time to blow up the installation or didn't know the value of it, since everything was pretty much intact. Consulting his watch he saw that the first Russian forces would be arriving in a bit less than four hours. Most of the men who were not on watch were there also, looking anxiously around and trying to rest. Gerasimov had reported no trouble on getting to the laser, but he wanted that the Major finally completed sweeping the place and headed back. He hoped that nothing happened but he had the Skyrangers at fifteen minutes distance if necessary.

The radio came up and he felt afraid. "Command, this is Front. There's an alien approaching the perimeter fast!"

Boronin froze for a moment. The Snakemen they had encountered before couldn't move at a big speed. What the hell was approaching then? "What type of alien?"

"Some sort of big insect sir! What do you want us to do?"

"If he gets too close take him down. Let's try to conceal our presence. Maybe it will go away". The voice on the under side didn't seemed too happy about the whole situation. "Very well sir". 

1407 Zulu

Major Gerasimov and his men had just reached the laser facility to found it in ruins. They had taken more than an hour and a half to across the three-kilometre distance that separated the research facility to get to the bunker, due to a detour they had to take to avoid getting too close to the city and all of that for nothing he cursed. 

 The aliens apparently had used some sort of explosive with great destructiveness, since parts of the concrete thick walls had collapsed to the inside of the bunker. And the upper head doors had been also blown and laid mangled on the outside. Going inside they found that the weapon itself had been completely destroyed. Again, no bodies had been found although there were also signs of a struggle, with now dry blood patches on the floor, spent cartridges and burned signs of where the aliens weapon's had hit the walls and equipment.

By luck or whatever the reason they hadn't found any aliens on their way here. But as Gerasimov stood on the middle of the large chamber that once housed the particle beam he felt the urge to get back. One trooper, wearing the triple chevrons under an X sign painted black on his chest's body armour and carrying a Mark IX Heavy Laser come up to him and said:

"We are checking the remaining of the bunker. Should be done in ten minutes or so".

"Get it done Sergeant. Being here is getting me nervous". 

"Couldn't the Colonel send one of the 'Rangers to come and pick us up?" The NCO looked nervous and Gerasimov noticed that his heart was also beginning to race. 

"Aleksander, he doesn't want to draw attention to his position and he's right. If they get us before the Red Army arrives we are dead meat". The Sergeant shook his head, put the laser on his shoulders behind his head and went back to the process of checking the troops.

1409 Zulu

Both sentinels in the south facing front entrance of the massive building kept watching the alien form. It was bipedal and had a close to black oily colour. It also seemed to have upper limbs but it wasn't carrying any type of weapon that they could see. The troopers had their laser rifles trained at it from more than 500 meters away but they were waiting to see if it would leave them alone.

The alien kept approaching in facility engaging in small bursts and stopping for some seconds. But when it was near two hundred meters from the ruined guard post it suddenly raised itself completely and waved his arms over his head. Both troopers become startled by its massive claws. They took a moment to respond to the fact that it then begun to run directly at their position taking few seconds to cover more than fifty meters of terrain.

Both X-Com troopers immediately started to fire back at him. The alien covered more 50 meters of terrain until the first shots hit him. The two laser bursts hit it, one in the torso and another at the pink flesh where the lower limb connected to the upper part of his body, but they didn't even made it run slower. More golden laser fire came into his direction but still it didn't go down. It keeping running, waving his arms and having his insectoid face, which the soldiers now could see, that was surrounded by two antennae that came emerged from its shoulders.

When it was about ten meters from the X-Com troopers it finally took a hit on his chest that made it stagger. It released a high tone shriek that almost made the soldiers go into panic as it finally fell on the ground dead, with its belly open and releasing a violet and green colour. Neither of the squaddies moved or said anything for a minute. Only the noise of the main lab's doors being opened on their back alerted them. They immediately turned and pointed their rifles.

Colonel Boronin and the rest of the men who come to investigate the source of all the noise took cover and shouted: "It's us you idiots! What is going on here? We heard the shots and tried to raise you on the radio but you didn't answer" One of the troopers composed himself and said: "Colonel, the Devil has arrived!" Boronin got out of cover and went by the guard position, saying: "What do you mean?"

"That!" And the X-Com squaddie pointed towards the dead alien on the ground five meters away from them. "It needed five or six shots to come down. And it made nearly one hundred meters in a few seconds". 

Boronin carefully approached the corpse, followed by Captain Likhachev and other troopers. It was releasing a foul stench, worse than sulphur, from its open entrails where violet and white organs or whatever they were could be seen covered with a green liquid. "Get a body bag," Boronin ordered "another thing for the lab rats to analyse". Two of the men immediately went back inside. "And the rest of us let's get out of sight".

As the soldiers were getting inside the entrance hall they stopped on their feet and turned. Across the horizon inhuman shrieks could be heard. Boronin suddenly become extremely afraid. Likhachev turned to him and said. "Colonel, I guess they all know where we are!"

1431 Zulu

On the other side of Azamas 36, at the now-destroyed bunker, Private Maleev and Corporal Belov were finishing their sweep an underground area full of storage rooms, all joined by a central corridor that connected to the laser bunker by a stairwell on one end. The whole cellar was in the dark and they were wearing night vision goggles. Both troopers were walking down in the middle of main corridor when Maleev suddenly saw a green figure in front of him running from one room to the other in front. He raised his laser rifle but was stopped by Belov who put his arm on his shoulder and said: "It's a human". The Corporal moved forwards and said: "Whoever is out there, we are Russian Army rescue soldiers. You can come out we won't harm you". 

Maleev saw a head looking out of a metal door, the goggles giving it a greenish hue. It was a civilian young woman with long hair. She shouted in fear: "The monsters are gone?"

"There are no monsters around, madam. This facility has been hit by a terrorist attack". No doubt the woman had seen already too many of them to believe that story but Belov decided to stick to it for the time being. She came out completely into the corridor and the Corporal lit his flashlight and pointed at both troopers to show her that they were human. She run into their direction and hugged Belov who become too startled to respond. 

"Thank God you come. They killed everybody!" And she started sobbing on the armour plates on his shoulder. Belov tried to calm her down and brought her close to the stairwell. He turned to Maleev and said: "Go tell the Major we got a survivor here". As the other trooper went up the stair he turned to the woman: "You are safe now. You are you and what has happened?"

"The monsters came in the middle of the night. My husband and me used to work here until they destroyed it, in the optics department. It wasn't my shift so I was at my home sleeping with my children while my husband was working at work. Their machines came and landed and released the demons. The serpents and the crabs that make you one of them. They started killing everyone on sight and searching over the city's buildings. We managed to hide until now but I have never seen my husband again". She lowered her head started crying again. Belov grabbed her on the shoulders and tried to get her back to reality.

"Don't think about him now. Where are you children?" She whispered in the middle of her sobs. "Dead also. Two days I went outside the basement that we were using to hide in the city to try to get us some food. When I came back I saw them carrying my little Victor and Tatyana away on their hands. They were already dead. Since then I come here, waiting to die". 

"You won't die now! You are safe with us". She raised her head and asked: "Are the monsters gone? Have you killed them all yet?"

"More forces will be arriving in hours to take care of the aliens. For now we are going to move to a safer location". She turned her head in a negative way and said in despair: "No. We will all die". He just looked at her for a moment and then went to the process of getting his platoon ready to move.

Gerasimov and his men were preparing to leave when his radioman come up to him with a microphone and headset on his hands, connected to his backpack. "A call from the Colonel, Major". He took both devices and put them on. Clicking on the transmit button he spoke: "Gerasimov here, over". 

"Major, we are getting reports of movement all over us. The aliens might be surrounding us and preparing for a full assault. Keep your position there. If things get ugly I will call for the Skyrangers and we will pick you up on our way out of here".

"Let's just get out of here Colonel. Call the Skyrangers and let's leave this place. We have retrieved a survivor and she told us some nasty stuff about some new type of alien".

"We have killed one of it. Tell your men to watch out. It doesn't carry weapons, but it's fast and tough". 

"Another reason for us to get out of here now before we are trapped". Gerasimov waited for an answer but it didn't come back. He clicked on the button again: "Colonel, did you heard my last message?" Only silence responded. "Colonel, are you there?"

1517 Zulu

Boronin had just heard autocannon fire coming from the West side and was making queries on the short-range radio. "First squad, what is going on there?"

A stressed voice came to him from the one of the troopers who were placed on the roof. "They are coming sir. Dozens of Snakes and the other things!"

"Second Squad give some assistance on that side! Fourth and Fifth get ready for alien attack!" 

"Fifth here. We are also picking movement of a large enemy force in front of us". Likhachev voice then added. "By the look of it I don't think also that we can hold out the two remaining hours until the reinforcements arrive. We should go Colonel". 

Boronin become confused and not knowing what to do. Help was only two hours away and with it they could properly defend the facility. On the other hand, they had planning on encountering either Sectoids or Floaters, not two new species of aliens more deadly than the previous ones. He thought of the central patio area that the main laboratory building had. The Skyrangers could probably land there and if they couldn't defend the facility they would fall back and get out from there. He spoke in the microphone. "All squads hold out. Keep in touch and open fire at maximum range". Then he got back to the radio: "Gerasimov, I'm calling the Skyrangers. If we fail to stop them we will board them and pick you up. If we stall the attack I will send one afterwards to bring you back to here".

"Very well Colonel, good luck".

The two troopers at the remains of the guard station had pulled up closer to the entrance of the building when the alien wave had started its assault and joined the rest of their squad in firing positions from the ground level doors and windows. Already they had managed to kill the leading black aliens, leaving five burned up carcasses on the ground. But more were coming by the second and was nearly impossible to target all of them.

Corporal Shadrin spoke a prayer and took aim at the nearest alien. The devilish alien had already taken a well-placed hit on his arm that had severed it away from the rest of his body but it still kept coming fast only forty meters away. Two others were behind it. Shadrin put his weapon into full autofire mode and sprayed the leading alien with laser fire, with his partner doing the same on the alien on the right of them. The insectoid thing took three direct hits and finally dropped down.

But Shadrin suddenly saw that the other one on the right had reached their position. As he looked he saw it jumping over the trooper on his side and landing on top of him. The X-Com squaddie jerked from the impact but quickly started clubbing it on the head and shouting: "Get it off me!"

Shadrin was about to help when the trooper suddenly spasmed on the ground and started foaming from his mouth, his eyes open wide and lifeless. "No!" He shouted and got on his knees, trying to bring his rifle into line with the monster, but the remaining alien on the left side finally reached his position. One of its claws come down on the weapon and cleanly cut the barrel of the laser weapon into two pieces, one falling on the ground and the other still on his hand. He dropped it and tried to run but the alien got itself on front of him.

The alien's eyes didn't have any expression Shadrin saw, just two globes staring at him. He looked down and saw what seemed to be an appendage coming out of the alien straight at him. Then there was a great pain on his belly and he stopped thinking for good. His higher brain functions were suddenly overridden and Shadrin ceased to exist as an individual. 

1525 Zulu

Captain Likhachev was covering the North side, together with four other troopers, all deployed around the first floor's windows. There were no other constructions between them and the aliens who had been approaching the facility first on an organized fashion, with scores of aliens taking cover while moving in a ragged line against the now pink sky. 

Then all hell had broken loose. The black aliens had suddenly started to run towards the lab and the Snakemen had started firing their plasma weapons, using damn effective suppressive fire. All over the defensive positions the X-Com soldiers started to respond with laser, autocannon and rocket launcher fire but the Sun was starting to set down right in front of the X-Com squads and it made their aim difficult. Nevertheless several of the aliens were brought down in the first salvo. 

The Russian captain got up and changed his position, taking cover beneath another still intact glass window. Spotting one of the crab aliens two hundred meters away from the building, he aimed his heavy laser at it and fired a two shots, one right after the other. The first one hit it right on the head and the second one missed, but the alien made another of those screams that cooled your soul and went to the ground.

He got back into cover and decided to move to another firing location. But as he was crouching underneath the windows, suddenly he heard a whining noise coming from the distance. It lasted for one second and afterwards he found himself in a world of pain on his back and laying in the ground. His ears were ringing but he couldn't listen to anything else. Looking back he saw the reason.

The area of the corridor where he was standing didn't exist anyone and on its place there was a huge hole on the wall, made by a powerful explosion that had took also the roof and the floor, together with a piece of the room behind the corridor. The fact that he didn't remember hearing the explosion told him how big it was since his ears had stopped sending information to the brain.

He took a look outside to try to see who had fired. At the distance he could see one of the Snakemen carrying some sort of large tube. He frantically tried to get the mike control and when he reached he spoke: "Attention everyone! The aliens have some sort of new weapon highly destructive! Don't stay too long on one spot!" As he spoke alien fired again. Even with the projectile moving at near the speed of sound he saw the glimpse of what seemed to a grey football flying on the air and going to his right. The door at the end of the corridor suddenly exploded in smoke and flame and he still felt the blast although he was twenty meters away. Then he realized that one of his men was there. "Andianov? Do you copy? Answer me!" Only silence responded him.

Likhachev looked by the window again. The Snakemen seemed to be reloading the weapon. He searched in the ground for his heavy laser and found it a few meters away from him. Checking to see if it was functional he then aimed and fired to the direction of the alien. The first shot missed badly to the left of the alien and he corrected his aim, releasing two lines of white light that hit the alien and his weapon. The creature jerked and dropped to the ground. Likhachev saw them that another of the black insectoids had nearly come to the building. He aimed and killed it also, after it had taken three direct hits.

Then another fizzing sound was heard at the distance and Likhachev realized that he had forgot to follow his own advice. "Stupidity kills you", he thought and then he immediately died, his body being torn into millions of tiny pieces by the power of the Elerium blast. 

1532 Zulu

In the command post area there was only now Colonel Boronin and the troop carrying the radio. The Colonel was starting to feel desperate. The aliens were attacking from three sides at the same time and even the guard at the West side had reported some alien movement. They were surrounded.

"Skyranger Flight what is your status, over?" The pilot on one of the planes replied him. "ETA seven minutes. We are getting some anti-aircraft fire but we are flying too fast for it to be effective".

"There's a central patio on the main building. You should be able to land there one at the time. Watch out for the aliens attacking…" The noise coming from the south door opening made him stop. An X-Com trooper walked inside or, more correctly stumbled inside, his front armour torn and bleeding from his belly. The squaddie expression was more of a living dead, with the eyes opened as if it was experiencing terrible pain. Boronin and the other trooper become shocked at the sight.

"Petya? What has happened? How is the main entrance?" He approached the trooper, looking for any possible aliens that might be about to burst into the room. The wounded soldier didn't respond. Instead, when he reached his commanding officer he immediately threw him a jab that nearly broke the Colonel's jaw and made him loose several teeth. Boronin almost went down to the ground but managed to keep on his feet. The radioman got his laser pistol out of its holster and fired at the soldier, as he seemed about to press his attack on the Colonel. Three shots hit him and he slowly dropped to his knees.

The trooper had to be dead; Boronin thought but instead his body started jerking. The man threw his head back in agony and opened his mouth as if to scream but no sound came, only a fountain of blood. Instead, his shoulders ripped opened and two small alien claws came from inside the human flesh, followed by alien limbs. The radioman wavered and Boronin almost threw up.

The trooper's torso exploded and Boronin saw the man's rib cage wide open. And from the inside of the now dead body, the head carapace of one of the dark grey aliens begun to emerge, with the claws already outside cutting through the flesh. A series of final slashes released completely the alien, the human flesh and bones falling on the ground and leaving the thing standing up in front of Boronin. It was smaller than the other they had killed before but Boronin swore than it was growing up, that he could see it.

A series of laser shots from the other squaddie in the room hit it and it died, but not without first releasing the death shriek they had heard before. "Colonel….? What has happened? What have I done?" Insanity went over Boronin's head at the gruesome sight but he managed to regain control after some seconds. "Let's get out of here to the central patio now!" The trooper snapped upon hearing the orders, like his training told him to do and both men started running in the direction of the landing zone.

"Everyone fall back! We are being overrun, south section! Regroup at the central patio! The Skyranger is two minutes away! Likhachev do you hear me?" Another voice than the Captain replied him: "Sir, this is Sergeant Zhdanovich, the Captain is dead! The remaining members of my squad are pulling out now!" Boronin winced almost stopped his run upon hearing that. Not Likhachev! Damn!

As the research facility was being overrun by the aliens, Gerasimov and his men, together with the survivor, were waiting in the large area that once housed the firing mechanism of the particle beam weapon and getting more anxious by the minute. He had spotters on the roof to check for the Skyranger's arrival or alien activity nearby the wrecked bunker. The retrieval planes would be here in ten minutes or more, depending on the time they would take to pick up the other team, but it seemed too long. A call on his radio told him that it just might be the case.

"Major, Maleev here. Large alien forces are approaching the bunker from all directions. They seem to know we are here since they are about to charge. What are we going to do sir?" Gerasimov immediately knew their fate. They would never manage to hold out  enough to secure a landing zone for the Skyrangers to land and they might even not be able to resist long enough for them to arrive. The Colonel would have to land in the middle of the alien offensive. She turned to the woman who seemed to understand that something terrible was about to happen.

"Madam I'm sorry. We promised to bring you to safety but we failed. Take this". He brought his laser pistol out of his holster and presented it to her. "From what you have told us to fall alive into their hands could be even a worse fate than the one that waits us". She started shaking but took the pistol and grabbed it with both hands.

Getting on the radio again he spoke: "Third and Six squads, this is it. We are trapped here and it is too dangerous for them to try to rescue us, even if they got here on time. Let's just take a few of them down before we go. It was nice knowing all of you and having you under my command". Taking a deep breath he continued: "this is what gives meaning to all our lives. Let's all see one another on the other side. Major Gerasimov out". The rest of the X-Com troopers on the room stood quietly on the room for a moment and then all men went to take defensive positions.

1535 Zulu 

After taking a left turn at an intersection Boronin suddenly saw a Snakeman at the East end of the corridor where he was now standing, carrying a strange looking weapon with a large end. He suddenly remembered the warning about the new alien weapon and quickly tried to get some cover, but the alien fired first. 

The projective overflew him and hit the roof behind Boronin, but instead of the massive explosion he was expecting a cold wave went by him, almost making him passing out. He shook his head to try to clear it out of the feeling of unconsciousness that threatened to overcome him and fired his laser. The shots killed the alien as it was trying to reload the weapon. Looking behind him, Boronin saw that his radioman was laying on the ground, motionless. He dropped to his knees and checked him, finding out that he had a pulse and no major injuries. Grabbing the unconscious body he placed it over his left shoulder and lift him up, starting again to head back towards the central patio. 

After a series of corridors and turns he finally found the glass doors that led into the place. A well-placed kick opened the exit doors and he jumped inside, finding that some of his men had already arrived. The central patio was a perfect square with every side taking about some ninety meters. The whine of the Skyranger's engines could be heard and he shouted out to be hear: "Clear the central area until they land!"

As he waited holding the unconscious trooper he noticed that most men were missing. Out of the original twenty men that had stayed guarding the facility less than a dozen remained, including him. Suddenly the grey sky on top of him became filled with the figure of one of the Skyranger's fuselage. It hang itself there at fifty meters from the ground started slowly to come down, its landing gear already down when Boronin hear a whining sound. 

The Skyranger suddenly exploded on the air, spreading burning jet fuel all over this section of the patio and the blast throwing Boronin down to the floor while the wreckage crashed thirty meters away from him. 

The shock wave also shook the descent of the other Skyranger but the pilot managed to keep the aircraft from hitting the ground or the walls as it continued descending. Boronin raised himself and saw that the trooper he was carrying was still alive in spite of being hit by some of the burning rocket fuel. The material had also covered his arms and legs but he had managed to put it down before it overheated the armour that covered his limbs. But he seemed to have taken a nasty fall right on his hip because it was hurting as hell.

The surviving Skyranger had managed to land and avoid the fires and wreckage that now littered the patio, with all X-Com men converging on it. Since Boronin was at the other end he was the last to reach it. As he came closer to the ramp, the men kept telling him to hurry up and moved over to get the unconscious soldier off his load. He turned to one of them and asked: "Are we all here?"

"No one from South has appeared. All other surviving men managed to get here". 

"Let's get out them, before they figure how to send another of those blasts right inside!" The trooper moved up to the cockpit while Boronin started to bring the Skyranger's ramp up. As he feared another blast hit one of the walls, throwing away concrete and steel and leaving a huge hole on it, exposing an office. He shouted to the front of the craft: "Tell the pilot to hurry up and head out for the laser bunker!" 

When the Skyranger suddenly went up he lost his balance and fell on the ground, deciding to keep himself there until the pilot stabilized the craft. He looking around he saw that most his remaining men had managed to get to seats and put on the restraining harnesses. The movement gave him the impression of going up of a very fast elevator. After some seconds it stopped but the inertia continued to pull him up for a second, the gravity making him drop again on the metal floor afterwards. He got up in pain and went forward to the cockpit.

The pilot had stabilised the plane at a low altitude and was going through the alien's lines. A few plasma blasts occasionally thumped the craft but the Skyrangers had fitted with alien alloys protection ever since the Moroccan fight. Boronin grabbed a spare communications gear and connected it. Choosing Gerasimov's frequency he hit the transmit button. 

"Gerasimov, are you still there? We are coming for you this minute!" The response came after some seconds, in the middle of heavy static.

"Colonel! I'm glad to hear that one of us will escape. I'm sorry…" static came to the channel "…roblems with the radio…operator has been killed". 

"What is your status?"

"We are…..dead. All of us. We can't….much more. Turn back….die coming for us. Goodbye sir" 

"Gerasimov! Answer back! Gerasimov!" No one on the other side answered. He waited for some more seconds and tapped the pilot on the shoulder. "What sir?"

"Head out for the nearest Russian Army outpost. Major Gerasimov told me that they are behind any help". And Boronin placed back the headset and went back to the cargo area trying to think about the disaster that he was responsible to and to  mourn his men.

1541 Zulu

Major Gerasimov threw away the microphone of the radio to the centre of the bunker's main area. He was close to a wall lying on top of the pack that contained the now dead electronic device, with the other hand trying to contain the bleeding from a plasma hit on the leg, taken while trying to hold the aliens outside. He had crawled back inside and had an armed grenade on his hand hoping to take out an alien with him.

He could still hear laser fire which told him that the aliens didn't get yet all of his men. Suddenly he saw movement and prepared the grenade. The woman who had survived came out behind a wrecked piece of machinery and came near him. "I heard what you said on the radio. But I can't do it myself". 

Gerasimov looked up at her and at the laser pistol she was holding out to him. A human scream came from outside. He realized she still didn't want to be taken alive and was asking a favour. I'm a killer, I've been trained all my life to be one, he thought. At least this time I use my skill to do something right. He took the pistol away from her hands and pointed it to her forehead. She nodded and closed her eyes. Another scream at the distance, but this time it prolonged itself for a few more seconds. He pressed the trigger.

He saw her body immediately falling down and he dropped the pistol also. A good shot. One of the aliens entered the large room and he recognized it from the description she had made to them about the dark demons. It saw Gerasimov and after a moment it sensed that the human wasn't a threat, quickly moving on his direction. Upon it reaching him it was about to lower itself, the ovipositor already coming out of his body when the Major smiled, showed it the armed grenade and said: "Next time try to fuck someone else". And then Major Gerasimov, late of the Red Army and commander of Second Platoon, Russian X-Com team died in a flash of light and fire. 

1549 Zulu

"Colonel?" Boronin lifted his head and saw one of the surviving troopers of his command handing him a small shot glass full of a clear liquid. "It's time to honour them, sir". He closed his eyes but his hands went for the glass, grabbing it and taking it away from the soldier's hand. "To the dead and to the living" He spoke and afterwards donned the vodka in one gulp, the alcohol burning down his throat. Boronin then smashed the glass into the metal railing of the Skyranger's floor and went back to his thoughts. One by one, the men in the compartment did the same.

André Galvão, 2001 


	13. The Eye of the Storm

X-Com - The Unknown Menace

X-Com – The Unknown Menace

Chapter Twelve – The Eye of the Storm

July 19th, 1999 

Mother One, Black Forest, Germany

News of the attack on Azamas 36 was already starting to come out and they weren't comforting to hear at X-Com's headquarters. After the failed attempt by the Russian team to defend the research facilities, the Red Army was now preparing to take things into its own hands and make a full frontal assault using several armored divisions. All across Russia military units were racing to position themselves along with fleets of bombers and fighters. Meanwhile the whole High Command of X-Com was online, together with Dr. Chevereux, to discuss the gravity of the situation.

"Finally, the other races of aliens involved, previously unseen. This Snakemen are formidable fighters and are more resistant and better protected than either the Sectoids or the Floaters, although they seem to be slower than humans. Our scientists have just finished dissecting one of the bodies we managed retrieve and bring back. From what I'm told, they carry up to fifty eggs inside of them and it appears their metabolism and reproductive system is very efficient and fast". Colonel's Boronin mouth was a gruesome sight. Several front teeth were missing from the hit he had taken from the zombie trooper and his face was covered with band-aids for the small injuries he had taken when the Skyranger had exploded. 

"And the second type of aliens that you have encountered? Your initial communications were quite unbelievable, I must say". The scientific commander of X-Com had immediately waved off the idea that a living organism could have such a quick metabolism but his sense told him otherwise when it came to the biological abilities of the aliens.

"Dr. Chevereux, I've seen them with my own eyes, those slick dark beasts, as they attacked my team and civilians. They are parasites or whatever you choose to call them. They infect humans with some sort of egg that takes over the unlucky individual and quickly grows and transforms itself into another monster". 

"And destroying its human cocoon on the process, like a chrysalis that transforms itself into a butterfly, if I recall the first report correctly". 

"Yes I do believe that is the word in English. I will have the specimens we managed to collect shipped to you as fast as I can, for you to do a more detailed scan".

"Very well, Colonel Boronin. What's your team status?" Illyuschenko didn't know what to do with the feeling of hopelessness that he was feeling.

"Four squads completely decimated sir. We even had to shoot some of our own men after they transformed themselves into monsters. These things are terrible and fast sir. Somehow by the work of the Devil they either cut us to pieces or transform whomever meets their embrace into one of them!"

"Have you told them of our availability to provide with more forces to deal with this attack?"

"I just got word from President Larianov. He is furious about our failure and has refused any further help from us. He even warned that any X-Com forces near the area will not be allowed to get into combat and made a disguised threat that we might be shot at. I guess we didn't make a good impression, General". He sank his head in defeat. 

"Not your fault, Boronin. No one could have predicted this or the decisions our country has taken or the aliens' response. Question now is what we do". Yes, what other exit is there?

"Commander, I demand that something is done!" Dr. Chevereux had both the touch of urgency and assertiveness on his voice. 

"Doctor, my country's forces are preparing to deal with this. We can't do anything else right now!"

"You don't understand, so I will try to explain it simply. My staff have been going through the few data available from the capabilities of that weapon and, more important, over the technology it uses. Bottom line is, like the Americans say, we need to save the research made by the now dead scientists there. To make sure that their work wasn't in vain!"

"What are you speaking of?"

"We have come to the conclusion that their work on the ionized particle weapon, and more specifically on the electromagnetic fields necessary to contain and direct the beam is the missing part on our weapons research. It took us too long to come up with that conclusion and to verify it, unfortunately.But we now know that if it's lost we might never know how to build plasma weapons and use Elerium power until it's too late!"

"But the laser and the research facility has been already destroyed by the aliens and the scientists killed. You have seen the battlefield report from Colonel Boronin and the satellite pictures taken afterwards. It's already lost!"

"No it isn't. Usual research procedures say that there must be always back-up files, regularly updated and stored at a different location to prevent for accidental loss of data on the main computer. We need to go there and get the research they have done. Afterwards we can interpret it and use it to start using Elerium as an energy source. I can't even speculate with the amount of things that will be possible!"

"In any case, I can't do anything, Doctor. The Russian government has told that the area is off-limits to our personnel. We can only hope that the Red Army is successful in defeating the aliens on the ground and the data won't be lost. For now we can only wait and hope that they will recover it".

July 26th, 1999

Outside Azamas 36, Russian Federation

Igor Stavkov, Senior Sergeant in command of a T-90 tank platoon couldn't believe what was happening. In the last days the entire division had been ordered to move as quickly as possible to Siberia. They had mounted the available tanks and vehicles up rail cargo transporters and had ridden thousands of miles until finally disembarking into a huge military camp that kept growing everyday. As more men, vehicles and attack helicopters arrived Stavkov and his men couldn't imagine what sort of exercise was this. Then they become concerned that it might not be an exercise and on that case, what sort of threat could it be that required that much firepower?

The answer had came up some hours ago in the morning as the captain in charge of the company had returned from a staff meeting, badly shaken. They were about to attack and regain control of the city that was some twenty kilometers away. But more shocking was the nature of the enemy: extraterrestrials. Some of the men had prayed upon hearing that word and they all had kept a grim silence when making the final preparations for battle. 

Now, two of the Division's brigades had massed together and started attacking the outskirts of the city with the last brigade waiting to exploit a breakthrough in the aliens' lines. But more than a kilometer away from the city the aliens had started to snipe at the company's tanks, their deadly weapons releasing green bolts of fire that opened large holes in the frontal armour of the tanks and killing the occupants inside or blowing off tracks and stopping the tank. The Captain in charge of the company had been one of the first to die, some of the crewmen managing to get off the tank screaming of the burns they had suffered until a plasma bolt or machine gun fire would mercifully cut them down. With him gone, command stepped down to the Lieutenant, who was too damn young and inexperienced. However he tended to ask and rely on Stavkov's advice. At least the young officer knew its limitations. 

The BMP-3 Mechanized Infantry Combat Vehicles and BTR-80 Armored Personnel Carriers that transported the foot soldiers weren't doing also much better. They just blew up whenever hit by one of the enemy's weapons, the plasma cutting through the light armour and igniting the ammunition and fuel inside at the same time that killed all the men on board. And it was hard to hit the monsters with the 125-milimeter cannon the tank carried. They were always on the move and the turret couldn't track them fast enough to fire. However the company was giving almost as much as it was receiving, and the battlefield there were also the bodies of orange colored aliens with a shape that reminded the Sergeant of serpents. But the advance was being too costly. 

Stavkov was considering his tactical options when his radio stared speaking: "Battalion command here. We have a breach on enemy lines! All units charge to enlarge it!" That's it, Stavkov thought and reached for his unit's radio channel. "Platoon, charge out at full speed! We have a breach!" The driver of the tank immediately pressed the accelerator and the metal tracks started to move faster, driving the crew into a series of bumps as it went over the terrain.

The monster's fire is slowing down, Stavkov noticed. Good, they are on the run. If we can just now move the reserve brigade on time…the wind had changed and they were now going into the middle of the battle fog, in part created by the smoke launchers mounted on the turrets of the Russian tanks, moving towards a group of small hills. Looking around the turret through the portholes he could see that what remained of his armored company was charging into the alien's positions, which seemed to be in full retreat, together with the mechanized infantry. 

Then he started noticing black figures moving through the fog in front, almost too fast to be noticed. "What the hell? Full stop! We are being counterattacked. Gunner, open fire at once!" The man in charge of the tank's main weapon started looking for a possible target. Seeing a group of Snakemen on top of the hill, he lined up the barrel at their direction and pressed the trigger. Unfortunately the aliens had already left the position when the High Explosive charge hit the ground, blasting and throwing earth and pebbles in a radius of several meters.

After the weapon had fired, filling the crew compartment with noise and smoke, Stavkov suddenly noticed that the APC that was accompanying the tank on his left was being surrounded by the black crab figures coming out of the fog. A machine-gun burst from one of the personnel carriers hit one of them but it merely shrugged it off and kept advancing. When it reached the APC it raised one of its oily black limbs. It had a massive claw on it and when he slashed it over the side vehicle, it cut through the armour and the tire like if it was a knife going through warm butter. The APC stopped and the thing kept striking at it, hitting the occupants inside, each time the claw drawing more blood on it. The back doors opened and some of the soldiers managed to get out. One of them raised its AK-74 assault rifle at the aliens and let go of a full burst. The black monster didn't even bother to notice the hail of bullets that ricocheted off his body. He turned and charged the soldier immediately. And Stavkov saw something that made vomit come to his mouth. An appendage came out of the thing when it was on top of the soldier and the monster impaled the human with it. As it removed it, the trooper eyes become white and greenish goo begun to come out of his mouth. 

The alien attacked the remaining soldiers and the zombie trooper also turned and started to smash them, throwing vicious jabs that broke jaws and crushed arms. The last remaining soldier managed to fire a full lot into the zombie. It staggered but instead of going down, his body started shaking and he started screaming. His flesh begun to rip off and his neck exploded, throwing the head back and facing Stavkov, who saw that it was still attached to the body by some strings of tendons and muscle. And a small monster's head started to come out of his neck, together with claws that ripped his arms from where they appeared. Stavkov said in panic: "Driver, start the tank and get us out of here! This is an ambush!" The engine immediately increased its rotations but the sound of a clank against the tank armour was what took the sergeant's attention. A metal noise, of something landing on the top of the tank. Stavkov started looking through the portholes to find the alien, but suddenly his ears were filled of a sharp noise of metal going against metal and a warm sticky substance on his face. As he looked left he saw the claw of the monster piercing through the top armour on an angle and cutting through his gunner's neck, spewing red blood from the carotidal arteries that covered him. The claw suddenly removed itself and Stavkov looked up. He never saw it coming back again. 

Underground Command Facility outside Moscow, Russian Federation

The massive underground bunker built by the Soviet Government to maintain command and communications in case of a nuclear attack was fully manned and all of Russia's top leaders had moved into the place after the first reports of the attack on Azamas 36. The Emergency Room of the complex was crowded with people, with almost all individuals deeply afraid and somber. Only Larianov had a different attitude and it was hard to tell if the military and civilian personnel were more afraid of the aliens or of his President. . 

"We have just received information from the Military District Commander", the Ministry of Defense started, unsure of how to say it. "The attack of our forces has failed. The aliens managed to ambush a full tank division leaving few survivors and severely hurt the other formations through the means of an unexpected counter-attack. They are still in control of the city and military facility".

"Find me a responsible for this or you will be it!" Larianov was enraged.

"Sir, the intelligence estimates made on the reports provided to us by X-Com and our assessment of the aliens crews from the UFOs reported were found to be completely inaccurate. We just had no idea that they had deployed so many of those Snakemen and their monsters".

"You mean that you failed twice on your duties. First in properly evaluating the threat, second on being misled by X-Com!"

Verchenko moved on his chair and decided that it was enough, if they wanted to have some things done. "If I may interrupt, there's something more, Mr. President, before we start looking for responsibles". The director of the SVK saw that he got Larianov's attention and he continued: "We have received the preliminary report on the aliens from X-Com. Both types of aliens are capable of quickly reproducing, with no need for artificial facilities. This was unexpected and is no one's fault. But even worse is that this can be the beginning of an invasion!"

Larianov's eyes slowly closed, the man not believing what he was hearing. "You mean they have started to make a ground invasion?"

"Look for yourself, Mr. President. They aren't leaving after all this time and they have already destroyed the weapons facility, so why are they still there? They must be preparing to expand their bridgehead but multiplying themselves. Those Snakemen carry eggs. And we heard of what the other monsters do to persons! That simply takes care of a lot of supply and replacement questions for a force equipped with that sort of combatants".

"We will have to expel them at once!"

"Yes, but with what? The best divisions of our Army have tried and failed. And I also doubt that they are able to restrain an alien attack".

"What do you mean?" Larianov was slowly starting to understand the implied message. Irinov, he Defense Ministry, also come up with the same conclusion and added: "Due to the circumstances I also agree with Mr. Verchenko sir. We have tried with conventional means and our men and tanks were killed and the fighters and bombers were shot out of the skies by their air defenses".

"A nuclear strike? In our own country?"

"If we are to save the rest, we need to make sacrifices. The remaining civilians in the area are as good as food or reproductive material for the aliens. We are only saving them from that fate by a quicker one".

"I see". Kill some so that the remaining can survive. "Marshal Boganovitch, I assume our Strategic Rocket Forces are able to perform the task, in the contrary of our troops". The Russian President wasn't making a question.

"Sir, they are available and at your orders. Just give us the command and we will eliminate the aliens from our land"

"If I may, sir," Verchenko cut in, "what we are looking here isn't one of our ICBMs. First they wouldn't have time to deploy and arm, since they were built to hit targets thousands of miles away. Second, their precision isn't enough for the type of strike we need. That excludes also battlefield missiles such as the Scud or FROG unguided rockets. No, the better alternative would be to drop directly a bomb by the use of a plane in the middle of the parked alien craft. But since the bomber would be shot down in the approach, in this we need to use our cruise missiles, armed with an enhanced radiation warhead".

"A what, Mr. Verchenko?" The Defense Minister answered instead. 

"Enhanced radiation is a type of thermonuclear weapon that releases massive amounts of neutrons sir. That sort of radiation can penetrate specially hardened targets, while being a more 'clean' weapon than the normal atomic weapons". 

"Exactly like Mr. Irinov said. What we need here is precision, in order to hit their craft that are landed on the ground and effectively destroy them. Of course that depending on the already miserable state of our armed forces". The President took the bait and turned to the Defense Minister. "Do we have such weapons available? Do not give me a negative answer or you might find yourself quickly away from your position and on the way to Azamas 36".

The man looked at the Chief of General Staff who nodded and replied. "It might take some time to prepare the mission, but I we have still some of those weapons stockpiled along with the means to deploy them".

Larianov turned to the Marshall and the Defense Minister: "Make all necessary arrangements. I want this option to be completely at our disposal when we have to resort to it".

I just offered both of those fools a way out of this mess, Verchenko thought. Let's see how they deal with it, he said to himself while smiling.

July 27th, 1999

White House Situation Room, Washington DC, US

The board was lit up with a map of Siberia, showing the latest satellite pictures of Azamas 36. President Winston remembered the message he had just received from the Russian President and started thinking. He had been too young to take notice of the atomic bombs that were dropped on the end of World War II in Japan, but he had been grown up in the middle of nuclear attack preparations. He still remembered the fear he felt during those days and it was coming back to him now. Turning to the rest of the National Security Council in front of him he started saying:

"I got a message for Mr. Larianov about half and hour ago. The Russians don't think that they can control the aliens and prevent them to expand their lines through conventional forces". He paused to add a grave tone to his next sentence. "If they consider it necessary, they are willing to use nuclear weapons to permanently eradicate the aliens out of their soil".

Looks of surprise and terror came across the room. "They are informing all other Charter nations to prevent any mistaken evaluations of the explosion and to avoid the possibility of a World War III right now". Wouldn't that be ironic, Winston thought, adding that we may just deserve it. "I have regretted the necessity of going with such means but Larianov just cut me off, complaining about Russia's overall treatment by the other nations and how it is behind their current situation. I offered our military's help also but he declined and warned us to stay off their land".

"In other words, they will deal with it as they see it fit and they don't care for the rest of the world", concluded the US Secretary of Defense. 

"Exactly what he made a big deal of pointing out to me. I need options, gentlemen and ladies. I have already contacted X-Com's High Command and let them know that our forces are fully at their disposal in case they need them to their operations". 

"Let the Russians bomb themselves back to the Stone Age. Why should we given our resources to them if they don't want it?"

"General Thompson, I will try to do anything to prevent the use of nuclear weapons, is that understood? Either by them or us!"

Before the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff could respond, the Candace May said on his defense: "Mr. President. General Thompson stated what everyone shares on this room. If they had collaborated more with X-Com, they probably wouldn't be on this mess…or would they?"

"What do you mean Candace?"

"They have deployed and used a weapon that threatened the aliens. They reacted by destroying it. One should consider if the aliens shouldn't simply be left alone".

The Director of the CIA took the challenge. "Your point is moot, Mrs. May, the aliens have attacked other nations that don't belong to the X-Com Council". 

"Yes, but only after X-Com itself was created. We can be throwing away all efforts of a compromise with them if we proceed through this course of action". 

"They never answered back any of our attempts to communicate, Mrs. May, it's foolish to think otherwise".

"That might not be true, Mr. Casper. The reports from the analysis team are quite clear on saying that the aliens might be trying to establish contact through unofficial means to the leaders of the world". 

"Don't play with the words, Mrs. May, they said that, but they also added that since we can't really verify the aliens claims other than through interrogation, the uncertainty and their psionic powers make it a very high risk. We could be selling ourselves to the Devil". 

"But what if another nation signed a pact with the aliens that gave them access to their high technology? Shouldn't we consider then if it's wise to maintain our present affairs with them?"

The President cut in the discussion: "To solve it all out, I will repeat what I've said. This administration's policy is not to engage in any deal regarding the aliens, is that understood? They have proven themselves to have no respect for human life and to be ruthless enough to wage war on civilian populations". All the men in the room remained silent. "I have urged X-Com to deal with the situation. Now what I want to hear is how to prevent anything like this ever going on in the US".

Area 51, Nevada, US

Johnson was on his office, going over the unit's rooster, both X-Com and US Military to try to came up with a plan that the Russians would accept and eliminate the aliens. He had been given information on the most top-secret projects that were being tested at Area 51, but unless they could get authorization by the Russian government to act on their country, it would be useless. 

An icon suddenly appeared on the computer monitor where he was going through the unit's readiness and strength figures, telling him that he had an incoming communication coming from High Command. He moved the mouse on his hand until the pointer was over the icon and clicked on it. An image of Commander Illyuschenko appeared some seconds later on a window and the faces of the other geographical command leaders and Dr. Chevereux appeared later to join it.

"Good morning, sir. Is there a problem?"

"My government has just informed the Secretary General of the UN and the Council of Funding Nations that they are going to use a thermonuclear weapon against the city to permanently eliminate all the aliens". Johnson's heart sank. "The Secretary tried to dissuade him and obtain permission for us to intervene, but with no avail". 

"They can't do it! We need the research like Dr. Chevereux has pointed out!"

"The Secretary General tried to explain it to President Larianov, but he simply cut him off. He told him that the reason Russia was in such a dire situation was exactly the secrecy we have been keeping about our weapons' research. And that more important than the research is to assure that the aliens didn't gain a foothold and used it to expand themselves. They want to cut away an infected limb to prevent contamination of the remaining body".

"So we don't have another try?"

"No, he specifically refused it".

"You Russians are so stubborn!" Dr. Chevereux cursed.

"Commander, what if we set up a covert operation to retrieve the data?" Colonel Boronin asked. "We have already an idea of the complex. We could hit it, retrieve what is necessary and get out before the attack".

"Colonel, the only team close enough to make such a raid is yours but you are in no condition to set up an attack. Sending you and you few men available would just get all of you killed".

"We could be reinforced by any of the other teams".

"But how Colonel? Although I want also nothing more than to retrieve the data and piss on the decisions taken by the leaders of our countries, any Skyranger and transport plane that approached Russia would be found and shot down. There would be hell to pay with my country if they ever found out about it".

Johnson remembered something he had just seen on the files and interrupted the exchange. From ever since he had been assigned to X-Com he had been given full security clearance to US military data, including the black budget projects. The National Security Council had recommended it, since the regional US X-Com commander would need to know with what North American resources it could count on. He had also been warned not to share that information with the rest of X-Com, but in this case he had decided that there were other things at stake than security of one project. 

"But if we had the mean to get ourselves there covertly and on time to extract the data, would you consider it?" Illyuschenko immediately understood that something was up, his expression becoming very intrigued. "If there was a way to conceal X-Com's activities, yes I might consider it".

"Have you ever heard of a plane called the Super Valkyrie program Colonel?"

"One US top secret project, I presume, Colonel? I don't remember if I saw about it in the list that I got from your military when X-Com was being formed."

"It's still top secret but I've been let privy into it. It's a program that was started right after the Challenger space shuttle disaster as an alternative measure to put a craft into space. It consists of a huge mothership, based on the former XB-70 supersonic bomber program. They changed the project into a research plane in the sixties and developed the Super Valkyrie based on the results. It carries a launch vehicle that can enter low earth orbit. It can be also used for other roles and they have an operational prototype here".

Illyuschenko's image on the monitor winced. "I'm not understanding Colonel. What is it of use to us?"

"The motherplane can reach speeds of more than Mach Three and one of the configurations includes carrying a personnel pod for special ops underneath the craft instead of the usual transatmospheric plane that is carried piggyback".

Illyuschenko opened his eyes: "Are you suggesting that we use it to transport your crew to Siberia? That is insane, the Russian Air Defense Command would detect you immediately and shoot you down". 

"No they wouldn't Commander, because we would be flying too fast and high for their interceptors or missiles to get us. And because of our flight profile we would be mistaken for another UFO. The Super Valkyrie would drop the pod over the area were it would immediately open its parachutes and slow down, enabling us to leave it and make a high altitude jump. The pod is equipped with Radar Absorbent Material and even if your country's air defenses detected it, they would be more concerned about other things to even start thinking of what it could be". 

"But the plane would have to leave. You would have no way to come back".

"We use the Skyrangers of the Russian teams to get to a safe location. Since they still have authorization to fly over the rest of Russia, they can approach the area and secure a retrieval point for us to rally when we are done. Your country's forces will have other things to worry about on that moment like getting into cover from the nuclear explosion than to be directly looking at it. Or we hide as close as possible to the Russian lines and when they move after the blast to mop it up we escape the area".

"And I could officially request to Russian High Command to observe the clean-up operations. We have that right under the Charter and on the middle of the whole operation who will bother to start counting the number of X-Com troopers in the area?" Boronin added in support of Johnson's plan.

Illyuschenko thought for long seconds and then replied: "Very well. I want a full-detailed plan in one hour, together with the necessary authorizations. Colonel Johnson, I take it that you believe you will get your government's approval for the use of this Super Valkyrie?"

"Some military and civilian leadership will oppose themselves into it, but President Winston has been more than pleased with our work lately. He would even have approved a bigger raise in their contribution to our budget, but he didn't have success in convincing the congressional leaders who know about it. This was done before sir, and most likely they will take advantage and install some cameras to also take a couple pictures of Russia. If something happens they can always claim that they had no knowledge for which they had lent the plane to us and say that they were only trying to help X-Com as much as they can, without getting on our way. Besides the risk of losing the plane they have more to win".

Illyuschenko didn't like the prospect of having another country taking advantage of Russia, but he knew that there were other things that surpassed that annoying thought. "Let's hope you keep on having all the answers then Colonel". 

Hotel in the center of Moscow, Russia

The Group had been gathered together since the first news of the attack on the facility had came to their attention, like it had been planned. Too many things could go out of control in the whole situation and they needed to be on top of the events in order to influence them. Number Seven walked into the room where they were all seated or standing up, but none talking to one another, preferring instead to look at the television set in one corner or to look at each other.

"I have news. The Russians will launch their nuclear attack the next day to stop the aliens. They are moving the remains of their forces meanwhile to a safe location and waiting for reinforcements for the cleanup". 

Everyone's attention in the room turned up to him at the same time, all considering the same thought at the same time. It was going as planned.

"Have our friends been warned about it?" Number One was still very skeptical of this whole idea.

Number Seven replied: "They are making no preparations to leave the area. They seemed not to be worried about the use of atomic weapons as we had always assumed".

"Which makes their intentions as I predicted" Number Three cut through the dialogue to bring his point. "And so are the Russians. This will only bring more disturbances. The Russians will be seen as crazy by the other nations and that definitely close the ties between them and X-Com. And a lot of the others will be scared and starting to think about themselves, being more open to any offer we make". 

Area 51, Nevada, US

Area 51 had been built on a valley right at the base of a mountain right next to a dry lake basin called Groom Lake. The geological formation gave its name to the facilities belonging to the Air Force and part of the several thousand feet runway was indeed built over the dry flat lake. While X-Com planes and personnel was being housed at Area 51, the access of its personnel to the Groom Lake installations was restricted to the research facilities located there and to the command center, which was better than the one installed at the X-Com part of Area 51. 

On the other side of the mountain and connected through a dirt road there was another dry lake, Lake Papoose. The installations that X-Com had occupied there to house its combat operations didn't appear on any civilian map or photographs. The reason was that everything had been built underground to hide its presence from prying Soviet satellites. Even the runway had been painted with the color of sand and had a coat made of special materials to hide it from an infrared photograph. 

Johnson and Major Patterson both looked at the massive gray plane situated at Hangar 18 on the Groom Lake installations. The structure itself was amazing to look at, with a length of more than 250 feet and eight stories tall but the main star was the plane housed there. The lights that suspended from the ceiling and flooded the inside of the building with bright revealed his sleekness and futuristic appearance. On a first look an observer would recognize the similarities between it and the French-British Concorde jetliners. It was bigger than a B-1 or B-52 bomber, with a total length of more than 190 feet and a height of a bit more than ten feet with its landing gear in place. The wings were designed in a delta configuration and when at more than Mach 1.6 the tips would fold down 65 degrees to permit for stability during hypersonic flight. It also had triangular canards at the nose to maintain stability while on flight. The assembly on which the space plane was carried prior to its release was empty and the bomb doors were open with technicians going over the airplane. The six engines air intakes were situated directly in front the weapons bay and a man could walk inside them. The infiltration pod, resembling a massive bomb, measuring more than thirty feet in length, was also being readied close to the plane.

Looking at the Super Valkyrie, Johnson thought about what else was hidden inside the other hangars that formed the complex. He knew that the stealth planes, such as the F-117 and B-2 had been tested there and that he probably would find Aurora planes. His mind went over other top-secret research projects and he wondered which ones would he find over there. 

Patterson shook its head and said: "We are going to get a lift from that monster?"

"Seems like it. It took some quite some arguments from Williams for the President to authorize it but the order from the Secretary of Defense made it clear that it's ours to use".

"I hope that the CIA man keeps himself on our side, otherwise we might be into some serious trouble". Johnson looked back at the Afro-American major, wondering if the man had read his thoughts. "Yeah, but if anything ever happens to me you listen to him. I don't trust him completely, but he knows some things". The Major raised an eye, but Johnson didn't say anymore so he decided to bring another subject.

"Speaking of which, how is that wound of yours," he thought for a moment, smiled and added: "Ironheart?"

"Shit! No you too Mike. I wonder who got that nickname going on the troops. It must have been Jones. Tell Hopkins that from now on whoever uses that name gets permanently assigned to point duty". Patterson gave out a little laugh but stopped right afterwards and added: "I can do the job if you feel you're not yet recovered for it Colonel".

Johnson moved his shoulder to check for the mobility of his arm. The heavy plasma blast that had hit him on the chest had burned a lot of muscle and he hadn't fully recovered from the burn. The base physician had complained when he knew that Johnson had already doing physical exercise to restore mobility and strength. But he had ignored him, conscious of the need to be besides the troops in the field and not back at headquarters. The chest still gave him some paints but at least it was on the left side and it didn't affect his ability to carry his rifle on the right arm. "I will do OK, Mike. It's not that I don't trust you, but this one is really important". 

"Just checking to see if you know your limits Colonel. This whole mission already seems too much hastily planned. I still have my doubts about being dropped like a bomb inside enemy territory with no means for retrieval".

"Well the guys who are going over the pod and the plane are the ones who originally designed it and built it. It has been already tested, although with no troopers inside". 

"I hope so Colonel". As he finished talking both soldiers saw Captain Markovitch coming out of the pod and going towards them. As she reached them she shook her head. "You know, I never imagined that you would pull something like this Colonel. I have never heard of a mission that was the definition of suicide".

Johnson ignored the punt on her statement: "How many troopers can it take?"

"Eight squads. We can't take everyone".

"We will take both yours and Forrester's Platoon plus Omega and Sigma squads". 

Markovitch nodded and replied: "Your personal squad? I hope Crossett does his job well. Otherwise I will have his hide. And the same with Forrester, I hope he learned something back at Iowa".

"Crossett is military a rookie, I know, but I hope he will do well. He only needs to watch my back. Forrester got a bit shaken, but seeing my recovery must have lifted his spirit a bit. I've cleared things out with him and trust him". 

"The only final mistake you make is the one that gets you dead". She countered.

No time for this now. He deliberately ignored the comment and moved on the conversation. "Forrester and the rest of the junior officers and NCOs should be done briefing the rest of the men and getting themselves ready. Let's join them and make the final assignments. We should be leaving in an hour or so".

"I'm not too comfortable about that flying piece of can. And neither I like not knowing exactly where our objective is". 

"When they finished equipping it we are ready to go. The pilots have been already briefed and they seen to have penetrated Russian airspace before since they didn't react as if it was a big dangerous thing".

"But we still have to found where the damn back up files are! For all we know they could right by the aliens ships. I know it's logical to assume they would be in the barracks area since it is the most protected place on that facility, but who knows how Russians think?!"

"I know Markovitch, but we can't just ask the Russian government about the location of it. Just do your job". She was about to answer when the sound of a jeep hitting the brakes outside the hangar made them all turn. General Smith came across the half opened doors and looked around. When his stare caught Johnson it locked into target and he came towards him, taking few time to cross the fifty yards that separated both men.

"That plane ain't going anywhere! You can't just walk around while I'm not on base and giving orders to men under my command!"

"General", Johnson started to respond, "This is an emergency situation. I don't wanted to step over you, but we need the plane".

"You are not understanding. That plane is under my command and my security! What are these two officers doing here!?" He pointed at Markovitch and Patterson who were now on the sides of the Colonel. "They have no security clearance to be here or to know about the existence of that project! Remove them this instant!"

"Captain Markovitch and Major Patterson have been authorized to have access to the Super Valkyrie program under Presidential Directive 85/99, sir! Furthermore the same order from the US Commander in Chief states that the US Air Force should put the plane and every necessary means to X-Com's assistance, sir!" General Smith went livid and replied on a menacing tone:

"Are you trying to see who is the big dog around here, Colonel? You have gone over the line over and over. You can rest assure that it won't happen again". He turned his back on him and left. Markovitch whispered.

"The good General sure seems pissed".

"Get Prescott to come here while we are finishing readying the team and supervise the final preparations of the craft. Takeoff is scheduled in half and hour and we will land at approximately 2230 Zulu, with the explosion scheduled for 0630 Zulu in the next day. We can't loose time because of him. Let's go". All three men left the hangar and went to board a jeep to head towards the X-Com installations. 

Unknown location, Earth

The last report coming from the forces assigned to destroy the Terran weapon had been more than satisfactory for the Sectoid Commander. Not only had they managed to destroy the energy weapon but also they were preparing to take the next step of the plan after having defeated two major Terran counter attacks.

Seated in a blue chair around a large pink console in the middle of the new base that had been set on Sol Three, the Commander looked at the lesser castes directing all aspects of the craft and the fleet. The Starspawn united them all and he could know what everything he wanted about his forces by just concentrating. All the physical power present on the base and at his disposal was nothing compared to it. The location of the facility made it perfect to coordinate the operations, although the extreme weather conditions put a strain on both his subordinates and material. 

He suddenly detected a thought that distracted his attention. Images of a world lost forgotten in the passage of time, with two suns burning on the sky and vast surfaces of water. He immediately recognized his ancestors' planet. He considered that the memory might have risen from the fact that he now had set foot upon a planet after a long time boarded in a spaceship, the natural gravity making him remember past events. But he quickly dismissed it. No one of his kind in the entire fleet had ever touched the surface of what once had been their home world. Concentrating he discovered the source. One of his subordinates was daydreaming and they all shared that collective memory through the Starspawn. He immediately dismissed it and gave a mental command for the technician, ordering him to stay in focus. It was time to be prepared for the next phase, not to be dreaming of now a now dead past. 

Area 51, Nevada, US

Johnson was on his office putting on his body armour when Markovitch got in and said: "Colonel, a minute please?"

He decided to take care of this now than to be listening to it the whole mission. "Give me a hand attaching the back plates while you talk". He held out to her the rear section, which she grabbed and started to put into position. 

"Don't you think you are going over your head into this one, Colonel?" He turned around and she stopped. "What do you got on your mind Markovitch? Speak it"

"This whole mission is insane. This is something Colonel Jackson would have come up with, not you. We are going to use a deployment system never fully tested, going to face superior numbers and we are not sure of our objective's location or means to escape. This sounds like one of those cases they teach back about the academy on how not to plan a mission! And every trooper back there thought it also as they heard you doing the final briefing. Even Patterson isn't too convinced but like the rest of them they trust that you know what you are doing. Are you Erwin?"

He lowered his head in defeat: "No". But he turned back and motioned her to continue her work while saying: "But I got an idea that just might work out". 

"The Russian team had a better plan and they got squashed. What makes you think you are different?"

"We will do this my way. Get in, get what we want, get out without anyone seeing us".

"But what if we take more time? The whole place is going to be fried eight hours after we hit the ground".

"As long as we save the files it doesn't matter. Besides, it should take us about two hours to get there and locate what we want inside the wrecked command center, two more hours to retrieve it and the rest to get outside the blast radius. We will make it". 

"Of course it matters! There you go again!" She finishing locking the back plate into the other ones with a heavy push that made him jump. "You have been too strange from ever since almost died. You are already a damn hero, you don't have to worry about performing more heroics during the rest of this war!"

He moved his shoulders to check for mobility. "Thanks for the help. As for what you are saying, the matter is pretty simple and has been discussed with High Command. The appearance of the new aliens makes it impervious that we get better weapons. It's a technological race. We got lasers to deal with the Sectoids and the Floaters, they then got tougher weapons and aliens. If we don't get back the initiative and discover how to use their plasma technology we are as good as dead".

"Crap! Forget about that! It sounds really strange to be saying this but you are pulling a major stunt here Johnson and you are getting everyone following you into it!"

"We will be all dead one way or the other Captain". He stopped. "His that what this is all about Sheila? You are afraid of dying?" She looked away. "You bet. Just know what you are doing. I'm going to do the final preps and I'll meet you back at the plane". He tried to say something as she was leaving the room but couldn't come up with any words. Johnson shook his head to clear it out of any thoughts and continued with his preparation.

Laser rifle, check. Electroflares, check. Night vision goggles check. Someone knocked on the door. "Who is it?" Grenades check. The voice replied: "Agent…err…I mean Private Crossett sir. You told me to present in fifteen minutes here". Tactical radio check. "Yeah, get in, I'm almost done". What am I going to do with this man, Johnson asked. The Council of Funding Nations had finally approved a resolution for the development of X-Com's Intelligence and Security Branch. Many of the military leaders and a few of the scientists had disapproved such a matter, but Illyuschenko's threats and arguments had at least managed to see that the hired spooks would be directly under his command. Still, it was troubling to see the ever-increasing former spies and law enforcement agents back at the base. And another unexpected addition had been the soldier now entering the room. 

A medium-sized muscled man with a military cut on his black hair got inside the room. He was already fully equipped for the mission, carrying the high altitude maneuverable chute on his back, together with the spare on his front. In one of his hand he had the suspended bag that would carry his equipment and the helmet and oxygen mask necessary for the jump. He was carrying a M79 grenade launcher on a bandolier over his large chest and he also had a Remington 12-gauge shotgun on his back.

Johnson was surprised by all the firepower the men was carrying. "Jesus Christ, why do you need all that stuff?"

"Long and short range stopping power sir. Those laser rifles you use only make a single entry point and won't stop the motion of the most attackers. I prefer to have something that hurts a lot anyone who tries to come near you".

Pointing with his head, Johnson warned: "That shotgun might not be any good against the Snakemen". 

"For your sake let's hope it is". He made a yellow smile. 

"That's what I wanted to talk to you about it Crossett. Your role on the team. Just keep yourself out of my way while you are guarding me and we will get along fine".

"Sir, please let me correct you. You keep yourself out of my way and do as I told you if you want me to perform to the best of my abilities".

"Crossett you came from the Secret Service. You know what's a chain of command so I don't need to explain it to you". 

"Colonel, the President was my Commander in Chief and in some situations he had no power or control over me. You will have just to learn to trust me. Depending how quickly you manage that is the amount of time you have left on this life".

"I could send you back to the Secret Service you know? It was generous from President Winston to provide me with an escort but I didn't had to accept this offer from him if I wanted".

"You could, but after what happened to you on your last mission when you decided to go kamikaze, I'm not sure if General Illyuschenko wouldn't assign me to take care of you permanently. And I was on your shoes I'd prefer that the men didn't call me 'Ironheart', like I heard among the ranks. It would mean that I'm not getting hit by the enemy".

"OK, you made your point. Anything else?"

"Just relax Colonel. I will be your shadow from now on. Just try to ignore we when I'm not needed and do what I say when I tell something". He saluted. "I will be waiting outside, sir to escort you to the plane". Johnson saw him leave without knowing what to do with him. He shrugged and decided to see what happened. 

Engels Air Base, Russian Federation

The technicians dressed in white lab coats carefully moved one of the attack missiles out of its storage compartment inside the nuclear weapons depot using a specially designed forklift. The old Soviet denomination for it was Kh-17 but NATO had designated it AS-16 Kickback. The name didn't actually matter for its purpose. It had been built to be carried by a bomber and attack a 500-kiloton warhead at Mach 5 speeds and attack a target at a 100 kilometers distance. The firepower it would release would be equivalent to 500 times the energy unleashed by the first atomic bomb in Hiroshima. After removing it from storage the engineers slowly and carefully placed it over a workbench and proceeded on removing the warhead cover.

Carefully they then checked all the components of the nuclear warhead with electronic equipment, making sure that every element was working properly. It was a long process, since after the warhead they would have to verify the solid fuel engine system, which could be even more dangerous than the actual thermonuclear bomb placed in front of the missile. In order for the nuclear reaction to go off it was necessary to have present a certain amount of Pu-239 plutonium present for the material to achieve critical mass. As with all nuclear weapons it had two parts: a main section composed of plutonium modeled as a globe, but with the center missing; and a smaller ball also composed by the same material but outside the globe. When the weapon was triggered an massive conventional explosion would propel the ball inside the globe and both parts would achieve critical mass, initiating a nuclear fission reaction. The resulting explosion would be already terrifying, but thermonuclear weapons used the blast to compress hydrogen and deuterium molecules with helium atoms. The process was what stars used to energize themselves and was called a fusion reaction, the inverse of a fission reaction. But it released far more energy, greatly extending the destruction potential of the warhead and transforming the bomb into one of the most destructive weapons mankind had ever seen. Or at least until the arrival of the aliens. 

The missile wasn't armed yet, with the section containing the ball still outside the compartment where it would fit later. But the weapon still contained a lot of explosives necessary to detonate the nuclear reaction and rocket fuel that could easily ignite. In the days of the Soviet Union these missiles would be kept ready around the clock, in case it was necessary to quickly equip aircraft bounded to respond to a US nuclear attack. Nowadays maintenance was down and improving in response of the recent alert exercises but they still had their share of problems. And they still had another three missiles to ready after this one. 

Area 51, Nevada, US

The Super Valkyrie was ready to take-off, with all the crew already inside the cockpit and the final X-Com troopers were boarding the pod right below the weapons bay. Johnson and Crossett got out of the Humvee they used to get to Groom Lake from Papoose and crossed the now open huge doors in the direction of the craft. Suddenly Crossett put his hand on Johnson's arm and he stopped. What did the man wanted now, he thought?

Looking to his left he saw General Smith walking fast towards him. He looked at Crossett. The man was completely concentrated on the military officer approaching them, as if assessing a threat. Shit, won't this guy relax a bit? He will eventually start getting on my nerves with this crap. The General came near them and Crossett grabbed his shotgun with both hand, griping it tighter.

"Colonel, a word please regarding this whole affair"

"General, be quick I got a mission waiting for me right now".

"Yes, your mission. I need to talk to you about it". He seemed about to give Johnson another verbal assault because of the way he had been overstepped.

"There's nothing more to discuss about it, sir. I got my orders, you have yours". 

"That's not what I'm talking about. I got right now a call from the President who gave me some important information destined for you. You had already left the barracks when it arrived". 

"Well what is it?" Smith looked at Crossett before answering.

"He shouldn't be present". The soldier stiffened but the General continued. "It's Top Secret and it's too much of a risk to tell you this here. Let's get to a less crowded place".

Looking at the General, Johnson thought what could possibly have happened. Had the Russians anticipated their attack? Had the aliens moved first? He started going with the General but Crossett spoke: "I should go with you sir"

"Get to the pod, I will join you in a minute, I will only need you later". The trooper looked pissed off but turned around and started headed for the plane. Johnson and Smith left the hangar, heading out for one of the offices in the hangars section of the base.

When they reached it Smith closed the door after they had entered. He then moved behind a desk and sat down on a chair.

"Be quick please General, time is running out". The other officer suddenly moved and on his hands he had an alien plasma rifle pointed at him. "Don't move. You are not getting anywhere!"

Johnson started heading back and Smith barked: "I know what that armour can take and I can fire a couple of shots that will stop any stupid attempt on your part. Now tell your men to head back into their quarters".

"What do you think…". The door suddenly opened with a large thump and both men inside the room looked in surprise. Smith tried to react but his shot when wide, the green bolt fizzling in the space between Johnson and the door and hitting the wall to his left. "Down!" Johnson heard as Crossett fired the laser pistol he was holding with both hands.

Three bolts of light crossed the air between them and the General, with Johnson immediately smelling the ozone they produced. The first one missed, but the other two hit Smith right on the chest, one of them burning the chest bone until it reached his heart, effectively killing the General. Crossett quickly walked into the room still pointing the weapon at the corpse. He kicked the rifle away from it and gave it a kick to make sure the body was truly dead. Only then did he speak.

"Did you got you hurt?" Johnson shook his head. 

"Well Colonel, next time I tell you to get down, you get down or I will shoot you in the knees!"

Johnson was too shocked from what he had just seen. "The…the General was trying to kill me".

"Yeah, I could sense immediately that he wasn't up to anything good, so I dropped my gear at the plane and went back to follow you".

"Where did you got that pistol from?"

"I borrowed it from one of the officers back at the pod. When fighting at close quarters better if you do not use weaponry that can also hit whom you are expected to protect. Standard procedure ".

"And where did the General got that alien weapon? And why did he tried to kill me?"

"Good question. But the one who could clarify all that is already dead. From what I've heard you have checked for alien infiltration before and came up with nothing. Maybe he was who the intelligence people missed on their queries".

Johnson moved to the body and started to pick it up. "Gimme a hand here".

"What you want to do Colonel?"

"Let's hide his body in some closet or anything for now. If he was working for the aliens, the whole portion of the base that is occupied by the USAF could be also part of the fifth column. We need to get this mission underway and hide the Colonel's death the longer we can until we came back to deal with this situation".

"After some time someone will be sure to notice the smell". Crossett moved over and grabbed the legs of the dead body.

"I will tell our personnel to pick it up when we are gone. They also have to be warned about this treachery. We don't know who else on this freaking base might be also involved". Both of them lifted the body and when outside to find a closet that didn't show signs of use. After finding one they put the body inside and covered it.

"Now let's go. We have a mission to accomplish".

André Galvão, 2001


	14. Divine Wind

X-Com – The Unknown Menace

X-Com – The Unknown Menace

Chapter Thirteen – Divine Wind

July 27th, 1999

Sea of Japan, Pacific Ocean

To every member of the West team who was seated on the infiltration pod housed in the belly of the Super Valkyrie the trip seemed to be endless, although the flight from Nevada to Siberia would only take a few hours due to the plus Mach Six speed the plane could attain. But the thrust of the Super Valkyrie's six Pulse Detonation Wave Engines was felt in the bomb bay, adding vibration to the pod. On the contrary of other planes, which burnt jet fuel to perform a reaction that propelled the plane, the Super Valkyrie's PDWE engines performed continuous controlled detonations of liquid methane to move the aircraft over hypersonic speeds. Both the pilot and the navigator on cockpit were isolated from the noise, but the insertion pod was not, since it had been only tested with dummies inside. Worse yet, the bay was situated in the rear section of the plane, with the long air intakes at its front and the bay located between the engines. And the X-Com troopers had to wear oxygen masks close also since because of the possibility of a lack of pressurization on the bay. At that altitude the lack of oxygen would kill any human being.

Another handicap in the experimental pod was also the absence of any communication or radio devices. The tactical radio had been changed to be able to listen to transmit on military aircraft channels and that had been the only way to talk to the President and tell him what had happened with General Smith back at the base. He had found it unbelievable but had agreed to Johnson's request that X-Com placed the USAF section of Area 51 at discrete surveillance and conceal the General's death from the personnel there until they got back. The X-Com personnel back at Papoose had been already forbidden to enter Groom without his authorization. 

He looked around. At an altitude of more than 140 thousand feet the cold would kill any man, if the lack of oxygen didn't. But the heat created by the friction of the plane on the atmosphere, while doing its cruise speed of 8.7 Mach was nearly impossible to stand. The pod was isolated, but still everyone looked as if they were standing in the middle of a desert at noon. 

A tap on the shoulder made him turn and he saw Corporal White handing him the tactical radio headgear. He put it and said: "Johnson here". The voice of the pilot answered him. "Five minutes Colonel. You still can quit you know?"

"Get us there. Tell when". Johnson gave the radio back to White and got up, Crossett immediately following him. "Everybody get ready. Be sure to check your equipment triple time and when you are done have someone do it for you. Five minutes". They all went going through their parachutes and gear.

White brought his hand with the index finger hand to Colonel. "One minute to startdepressurization! Hurry it up!" As they finished they all stood up, grabbing a strap connected to the roof with one hand and another one connected to the floor on their left. Johnson finished checking Crossett's gear and did the same. 

As the bay came to a complete depressurization the bay doors started to open. All X-Com members suddenly felt the cold coming from the gelid atmosphere and it was nearly a thermal shock after two hours of continuous sweating. Johnson ignored it and concentrated on the drop. The mother of all rides was about to begin. 

The Super Valkyrie had lowered its speed to a bit more than Mach One and had gone down a bit in order to launch the pod. The crew container had been designed with a bomb format because its flight path would be similar to one and for better aerodynamics. They actually would still have to travel nearly some 40 miles to the target but this time it would be done falling and at an even increasing speed, due to gravity. 

The targeting computer inside made its final calculations, judging the wind and other factors. The algorisms built into its software determined the best position to launch that would place the pod as closest to Azamas 36 as possible. Then it released it when the plane reached the position.

Every X-Com soldier on the pod started to fell a grip on their stomach close to the one when riding a roller coaster and afterwards they were raised upwards due to the inertia. Grabbing the straps attached to metal pins on the floor they hold out to counteract the movement but two of them reacted too slow and were throw into the ceiling. Johnson looked at them and noticed that they seemed a bit shaken but didn't have any major injuries. Then he saw around him and saw that the other men and himself were floating in the air like astronauts going around in a spaceship on Earth's orbit. Will we ever have to fight in such an environment, he asked, suddenly realizing that no one yet back at High Command had ever considered that possibility.

They would be experiencing a false loss of gravity, the scientists had explained to him, originated from the fact that the pod and its inhabitants were falling too fast for Earth's gravitational pull to bring them downwards. Every one was trying to hold still but occasionally a motion would carry someone's boot again another's mask. Johnson at his altitude meter and saw it dropping behind one hundred thousands. About time to go. He motioned the men at the ceiling.

They went to the center of the pod pulling themselves with their arms and grabbing rungs attached to the metal ceiling. In the middle there was a hatch and with a press of a button oen of the soldiers made the small explosive charges went off, throwing it away from the pod and exposing the night sky. One by one the X-Com troopers threw in the direction of the hatch and were caught by the two waiting men close to it. Then they were placed facing the open hole and were pushed outside. 

Johnson saw Markovitch over along with the remaining members of her platoon. Forrester's men went afterwards and his turn then arrived. He used the straps to push himself forward and crossed the distance that separated him from the opening. The X-Com squaddies caught him and placed him over the hole. He gave them a thumb up sign and they carefully pushed him outside the pod.

As soon as his head was out in the open he felt himself being sucked by the air moving around the pod and his body immediately followed. He quickly found himself moving away from the pod and out of the turbulence it caused going through the atmosphere. Spreading out his legs and arms, he slowed the speed at which he was falling, enabling him to join the altitude level of several of his men. It was pitch dark, with only the stars lighting their descent, but they all carried a pulsating flashlight to not being lost. If any X-Com trooper became separated from the rest he would touch down miles away from his buddies on hostile territory. If Snakemen didn't found them the Russians eventually would.

The lights started converging and Johnson checked the GPS attached to his pulse. All the squads had already reported on his headset and they still were at a thousand. Time to get close to their target.

2247 Zulu, Azamas 36, Siberia, Russian Federation

The West North American team had already deployed their chutes and were doing the final approach. So far everything had gone according to the plan but now come a tricky part, landing without the enemy seeing you. Every team member had by now taken off his high-altitude oxygen mask and put his night vision goggles but no one knew if an alien patrol would be right below them.

Captain Markovitch had glimpsed what he thought were the alien ships, landed in the middle of the city almost three kilometers to the south, which seemed to be the focus of the alien activity according to the latest satellite pictures. But those were already hours old and everything could have changed by now. Looking on the other side, he could see the nuclear power plant lights glowing at the distance, together with the imposing form of the huge vent chimneys used to expel the excess heat and water vapor coming from the cooling of the nuclear reactions boiling inside. She suddenly realized that the plant was still operating and that the aliens hadn't bothered to shut it down after taking over the whole facility. Another fucking hole in the plan, great! She remembered the Chernobyl disaster and her gut turned cold. Maybe it had automatic controls, she told herself. In any case, they were about to hit ground and if the place hung together while they were in the vicinity it wouldn't matter. 

Scanning the ever-closing ground below her, she found that it appeared to be free of any hostile forces. She looked at the Global Positioning System visor she had on her wrist. They were touching down about one kilometer to the northeast of the location of the former command center. Pulling the cords that came out of the chute, she reduced her airspeed and prepared herself for hitting the ground.

On the other size of the landing zone, Trooper Jones was seeing the ground fast approaching. His armored boots hit the Siberian tundra and he quickly bended his knees to absorb the impact. As his body started to come down he immediately rolled over to his left. Unfortunately his parachute refused to make the landing perfect and it felt all over him, covering the soldier with the artificial material.

Jones got up and immediately tried to get himself loose of the fabric sheet that was covering him. Not good he thought, the Lt. will sure get me on this. His radio started to go off with calls for his name and he just told them that he was ok and turned it off for it not to distract him. Going for his leg he removed a combat knife from there and started cutting himself free. Suddenly he felt that another trooper was doing the same from the outside, cutting through the fabric and helping him out of the prison the chute had turned itself into. One final thrust finally uncovered him and he turned to thank the other trooper: "Hey, thanks for the…"

He didn't finish the sentence. As he completed his motion he saw a big black oily Chryssalid gesturing its sharp claws and about to jump on him. As it crossed the space between them, Jones' training was the only thing that avoided its deadly embrace. He moved his body to the left while making a thrust with the tip of the knife at the creature while it passed him. The blade hit and slightly penetrated the exoskeleton of the Chryssallid but it didn't penetrate it. Instead as the alien moved it broke, leaving only a shattered knife on his hands, while the alien landed on where he was standing just a minute before.

The bug's antenna on the side of its head flickered and the thing got itself standing up again, but Jones had already dropped the knife and started to run away, screaming for help.

"Down Jones!" As soon as he heard the shout he threw himself to the front, flying a couple meters on the air before hitting the ground again, but this time hurting his arms in spite of the armour built there. He felt the heat of a laser beam that had just passed too close while he was falling and waited in expectation on the ground, almost pissing on his pants from the fear he was feeling. After some seconds terrified by the wait to see if the alien would get him, he suddenly felt the another presence close to him. He looked up and recognize the figure of Sarge Hopkins holding a heavy laser on his arms and looking actually amused and pissed at the whole situation.

"Did…did you got it Sarge?" He asked as he grabbed the hand the non-commissioned officer was offering him.

"Yeah, some of us caught it dashing towards you as soon as you hit the ground. You are damn lucky for that shitty landing of your since it saved your ass!" He then pulled Jones up to his feet. "What do you mean?"

"I mean that was one of the worse landings I've ever saw but since you got yourself all wrapped up in the chute the alien couldn't get to you immediately which gave us time to go for our weapons meanwhile". 

Jones' mouth went open and the Sarge gave him a hard push on the shoulder. "Close that stupid mouth of yours and get that radio working again. We sure tried to warn you to lay low but no one managed to raise you on the tac radio!"

2257 Zulu

As soon as all the X-Com troopers had finished hiding their parachutes, the team assembled at a small taiga bush forest to the northwest of Azamas 36. Fortunately no casualties had been suffered on their descent, which was a blessing, considering that they had deployed on a most unorthodox way.

After setting sentries to watch for alien activity, Johnson was having a tactical meeting with his officers. Major Patterson was the first of the crouched group to speak, almost in a whisper, just a little higher than the necessary for everyone close to him to hear. "We have landed inside the perimeter according to the GPS indications and the satellite pictures. All squads are go. The barracks are one mile on that direction". He pointed towards the south. Johnson calculated that they need about an hour and a half to get there. Time was going to be critical on this mission.

"Markovitch your platoon leads the way. Forrester, cover our back. Be aware of the alien troops we have spotted to the southwest. Move out". The three other officers got up and went passing the orders to their platoons and squads. In less than half a minute the team was already on their way to the command center with Markovitch's squad up front and scouting the way.

Engels Air Base, Russian Federation

On the other side of Russia the two Tu-160 Blackjacks assigned to perform the nuclear attack on the aliens were being serviced for the mission. One of the supersonic bombers had already been replaced by another plane as one of his four jet engines had developed a malfunction, but no other glitches were found after that. The Tu-160s were already being refueled and the vehicle carryalls transporting the Kh-15 Short Range Attack Missiles (SRAM) were waiting to be placed in the planes' weapons bays. 

The Blackjack was Russia's more advanced bomber, having being designed as a close replica of the American B-1, with swept back geometry wings, which would be controlled into several positions to help the plane's aerodynamics. But more important was the ability to perform hypersonic attack runs that would enable him to quickly enter and exit the area after having launched his K-15 missiles. When the crews appeared fully equipped on the hangars to board their aircraft, they had already been equipped with the nuclear weapons. After the last preparations the pilots fired up their engines and started moving their planes towards the kilometers long runway.

July 28th, 1999

0038 Zulu, Azamas 36, Siberia, Russian Federation

The Command Center and adjacent barracks located in the entrance to the civilian sections had been completely trashed by the aliens. Large portions of the security fence were missing and the gates had been thrown out of their hinges by explosions that had contortioned the metal. The front of the concrete building had collapsed, exposing the rooms inside and blocking the main entrance with broken concrete and steel beams. And all the vehicles in the parking lot had been hit by alien fire, leaving only scarred blackened skeletons of trucks and armored personnel carriers. And at the distance 

After the forward platoon had given the all clear sign on the radio, the rest of the X-Com troopers approached the facility with Johnson looking at it in dismay. How could something be intact in the middle of that destruction, he wondered. Patterson came near him and expressed the same idea. "Let's hope High Command didn't made us get into this hole for nothing".

"Yeah, I know what you are saying. Send pairs to find out the location of the backup data banks. And get the remaining men on watch. At the first sign that the aliens have detected us we get out of here". Johnson started moving towards the ruins, hoping that the reserve data center would be there. 

0057 Zulu 

Corporal White finished connecting the laptop that one of the men had carried all the way through the jump. Somehow in the middle of the indiscriminated destruction the aliens had ignored the closed doors that lead into the backup computers containing all the research made by the now dead Russian scientists. Since the front entrance was being blocked by all the rubble, they had to use a side entrance to get inside. The command center's room had been heavily attacked, with signs of gunfire and blood marks all over the consoles and offices but the levels below ground had been found to be pretty much intact. Most likely the aliens had only bothered to eliminate the humans defending the place and didn't had yet time to make a proper search of the facility. Who cares, White told himself, focusing on the computer in front of him. A spare satellite radio was standing on the top of the table where the laptop rested in one corner of a room occupied with rows and rows of cabinets containing data storage electronical units. They had to blow the locked steel doors to gain access but at least they had found that the emergency power generator was still running. A group of troopers had already finished installing the antenna at the top of the building while he had finished connecting the databanks in front of him to the laptop.

When everything was ready he opened the link between both computers and waited. A window immediately popped up with all sorts of different symbols appearing. He spoke to the microphone he was wearing: "Ultra, the link is up. Start doing your show, over".

National Security Agency, Ft. Meade, Virginia, US

On the other side of the globe another man seated by a terminal received the call and acknowledged it. The NSA's function was to protect and secure the US's communications. But it also had a technological system called Echelon, used some of the most powerful computers available in the world to monitor every transmission being done in the world and to crack the security codes used by them. Although the speed of the satellite data link connecting him to Azamas 36 was terribly slow for the technician's normal speeds, his first analysis of the security system that controlled access to the data made him shrug his shoulders. The NSA had been established with the Soviet Union as their most powerful enemy and its computers had spent years analyzing their code systems. The one the Russians were using was a variation of the systems used by the Communist regime. One of their best, but still not enough. Not only had the NSA spent years around it but also one defector had given them the complete algorithms used to cipher the information and generate the access passwords. It took the Cray computers less than fifteen seconds to penetrate the security, which annoyed the operator since he was looking for a better challenge. Pushing the transmit button he sent the access codes back to Corporal White's laptop.

0058 Zulu

Cyrillic characters had replaced the non-sense symbols on White's computer already as the operating system started to apply a Russian alphabet font. When the sequence code came from Ultra the whole screen went blank for a second and afterwards a list of files started to emerge. White then applied another piece of software, an automatic translator that replaced the Russian with English. Turning on again the satellite radio he called this time X-Com's HQ back in Germany.

"Goose, this is Dancer. We have gained access to the system. I'm sending over the list of files available. Don't take too long to choose your present, over". He copy-pasted the information into a simple text file and sent it up the satellite. One of the problems with the retrieval of the information was that the satellite uplink was no better than a normal telephone modem. Maximum data transmission was limited to 28 Kilobytes per second and he had seen that most of the files were several megabytes-sized. With the prospect of a nuclear explosion on their heads in a few hours, they had to carefully choose what information was more important and to reduce its size as much as possible before sending it back to Mother One.

Right now the scientists back at the base would be looking over the list of files to try to determine what information would be most critical in attempting to reproduce the Russian particle weapon. White fished a cigarette out of one of his pocket and lit it up. He was half-way done with the smoke as the reply came after some minutes as an electronic message came back, showing a list of files. 

White transferred them from the databanks to the laptop and used a compression program to reduce their size before sending them upwards. When the sending status appeared on the screen he saw that the first batch of fifty-five megabytes would take 36 minutes until transmission of all the files was finished. And meanwhile the scientists back would start to examine the received files and figure out what else they would need. Too much damn work, White thought. He called the Colonel. "Sir, data transmission has just started".

The reply came immediately: "Try to hurry up. Any estimates upon the necessary time?"

"Depends on what more Mother asks". Looking for an ashtray and founding none, he threw the cigarette to the floor and put it out with his combat boot. 

"Let's hope they don't get good excited. At 0430 we get out of here. Keep monitoring the transmission and let me know if something comes up. Out". White looked at the laptop and got himself prepared for a long wait.

0236 Zulu

The two sniper teams that formed Omega squad had both placed themselves on the roof on alert for alien activity. Five minutes ago King had issued an order to cease all activity after they had detected the movement of enemy troops. Looking through the high-amplification night-vision scope installed in top if his heavy laser rifle, he and Deschamps were pressed against the ground and concealed, keeping a close tab to the road almost half a mile in front of them. The aliens were using it to deploy their troops around and a column of Snakemen was marching in a double line heading right and in no doubt to prepare for the alien offensive. When the squad had first spotted them on the horizon and determined their numbers they had exchanged worried looks. Just this column was composed of more than eighty aliens, according to King's count, more than the double of the size of the X-Com troops. Still, the two teams were doing their jobs, with the spotter locating the alien leaders in command and pointing them out to the snipers. Some old thumb rules still applied when dealing with the aliens: take the enemy's officers at the beginning of a confrontation and they will fight less effectively afterwards.

0307 Zulu 

Concealed in several positions in the rubble overlooking the road, Jones and the rest of Gamma squad were finding the waiting close to unbearable. Captain Forrester had forbidden any movement on their part and all they could do was to watch as the aliens less than a kilometer away from them passed by and hoping that none would remember to move into the direction of the ruins. Alpha and Beta squads were also close by but that thought gave Jones no rest as the twelve men facing the scores of aliens could hope no better than to delay their approach before having to fall back. And while the Sectoids and Floaters were unmenacing by now to the veteran soldiers of the platoon, these new aliens sent shivers down the spine of every men. The Snakemen reminded him of a sidewinder standing on its tail and readying for an attack, with their lean bodies and reptilian heads that sported wide fangs coming out of their mouths. And the gray things were even worse. When the pre-mission briefing had focused on that matter, the orders stated were clear: to shoot down every man impregnated by one of those monsters. The reason that justified it was even more terrifying. It remembered Jones of the Alien movies that he had seen on his teens, where the alien would also grow into the victim's body until finally bursting out. Only on this case the thing would be even more quicker to grow. And he could swore that he had seen through the Lieutenant's binoculars some of the gray monsters focusing their attention into their direction. The yellow figures in the night vision binoculars had suddenly stopped and turned looking at his direction, with their antennas raised. He had passed that information to the Lt. but no one else had reported that type of movement on the part of the aliens. He hoped that it wasn't just his paranoia and xenophobia affecting his perception. Looking again at the ugly crabs, he wondered what sort of planet could had created such a living nightmare like it had came out of a terrifying Sci-Fi movie. What would be next, the Alien Terminator?

0359 Zulu

Looking at his watch, Johnson was slowly getting more relentless in the data storage chamber. In a bit more than thirty minutes they had to start moving or otherwise when the explosion occurred they would be still in a high-risk area. "Can't you just leave it there now on automatic?" He asked White, whose look both reflected a professional but also hopeless feeling. "We had already two broken connections with the satellite, we just can't risk it again at this moment. Batch number six is on its way and should take more 36 minutes. Mother thinks they have gotten most of the basic data by now but that there are still some concepts missing to them. After this one I can put it on automatic and queue up enough files for it to be uploading until the explosion. But now we have to wait. 

"Putting us over the schedule. Isn't there any way to speed up the process?"

"Only by using US military communications satellites. But they would soon decipher the code we are using and have access to the information".

"Impossible. I've received particularly specific orders from High Command on that matter. If any Earth country, including our own, possesses that information the world's balance of power would be completely altered, probably disrupting the effort towards fighting the aliens". White moved uncomfortably on the chair upon hearing again that explanation. Some of the troops had shouted interrogations and complains as when they had been informed of it and Johnson understood their patriotism. But he believed that the reasons that supported Commander Illyuschenko decision were even more right at this time. And the fact that the man had chosen X-Com over his countries seemed to strike a note on the troops, although he knew that some of them still had their doubts. Still, he wanted to make them all understand. But as the clock continued ticking his own doubts appeared. They had rented a commercially run communications satellite and installed both ends with a ciphering device hastily built that used the first alien algorisms discovered on their computers. Their mathematics at first defied any known calculus and it had taken months to understand their concepts. Whoever once it was done, theX-Com's radio transmissions had been coded using them to secure them from being listened by any nation on Earth. The security placed on this operation was so much that the unit had a team at the moment in France to monitor and secure that no traces of the information would ever be left into the company's computers. And as a final measure, the satellite would be brought down into the atmosphere and destroyed. That would make a huge dent on X-Com's finances but Johnson had waken up to discover that Illyuschenko had managed a way to get more money. When he asked him where all he got told was not to ask and not to discuss it with anyone. That was strange and probably something illegal was going on, but Johnson didn't bother since his troops were getting what they needed now. Still, looking at the minutes going by, he wondered what good was money if you couldn't buy time with it. 

0432 Zulu

"Shit!" The fourteen men overlooking the highway said at the same time. Up ahead another company of aliens had just came from the city. But on the contrary of the others they had seen before, it didn't turn into the right or the left, instead moving forward towards the ruins of the command center. Captain Forrester got quickly his radio working and spoke: "Attention everyone. A group of aliens has turned into our direction, ETA seven or less". Johnson's voice came immediately back. "Markovitch, status?"

Her voice came immediately: "Zeta, Kappa and Phi report no alien movement. We have a wide open escape route". Patterson looked at him and spoke what he was thinking. "We either go now or risk a confrontation".

"I know damn it! White, what's the status?" The communications technician looked at the monitor on the laptop and replied: "Four minutes". Johnson stood silent for a moment, doing mental calculations. 

Patterson guessed exactly what his commander was thinking and replied even before the idea was stated: "A very risky one. Markovitch can start clearing the escape route and covering our withdrawal while we wait to be sure. But we gotta watch out for the aliens". Johnson thought for a second, looked at Crossett, who seemed resigned with the situation and then nodded. Patterson grabbed his mike and spoke: "Markovitch get us an escape route. Forrester and Omega hold your positions and prepare to buy us some time but only fire at my command". The acknowledgments came back and all four men in the room placed down their helmets again and grabbed their weapons.

0432 Zulu

It was a matter of time, King had already felt it and now like always in snipping, time had proven him correct. The alien horde that was approaching the military compound had gotten close to half away when suddenly several of the crab monsters had started mad dashes towards their direction. King didn't even waited for the call on the radio. Focusing on the serpent figure on his scope he let go of a breath of air before squeezing the trigger on the grip of his heavy laser. The barrel emitted a golden ray of light that hit the creature square in the head, immediately killing the alien leader. On the other side of the roof, he heard the humming sound of Private Rumpole's heavy laser, but he didn't even bothered to look if it had hit. She was the first female sniper he had ever seem but she was as good as him. Searching with his scope and using the directions being told to him by Deschamps he prepared for last shot before moving to another position before the enemy detected his presence and used suppresive fire against him.

0434 Zulu

Several of the Chryssalids laid dead in the ground already as Captain Forrester had ordered his platoon to first that down the running monsters before they got to their defensive positions. But now the Snakemen were starting to react, although in a disorganized way and the X-Com troops had to be constantly on the move, taking cover behind the wrecked walls and broken concrete to avoid being pinned down by plasma shots or the alien's guided missiles. Jones got out of his concealed position behind a large cement block and fired three bursts of laser fire after getting his target. A group of aliens carrying more of those missile launchers had been spotted on the left flank and he knew that they needed to taken down otherwise they would blast his troops into a million pieces. He hit one of them, but a rocket, in no doubt launched by Big Momma, did the most damage, cutting their scaled bodies into pieces. The alien troops had figured by now that they needed to use suppressive fire and were slowing their advance. Still, as Jones came out again of his hiding place and supported the rifle's muzzle on the cement he considered if that was a good thing as he saw Private Bryant from Alpha ahead of him getting killed by several plasma shots as he tried to move into another position. 

0435 Zulu

As the timer on the upload status window reached zero, Johnson quickly spoke into the tactical radio to all his men. "It's done! Go!" Right, afterwards all four men of Sigma squad immediately headed out for the ground level.

Close to the front entrance of the center, Forrester considered for a minute what he should do. Bryant and Holloman had been killed already, someone at Beta also badly injured and two other light causalities. Not adding to that list the burn at his ankle that he had managed to stop the bleeding with his medikit but still restricted his movement. That was an amazing piece of equipment he realized as he saw he remembered how the X-Com designed personal diagnosis and medical treatment unit had immediately released drugs into his bloodstream that sped up the healing process and painkillers upon placement of it over his wound. However, it simply wasn't enough to enable him to even walk again at a normal pace. The other two men's injuries were light and wouldn't impair them but his and Wright's would slow down the team. Slow realization of what was requested of him came to his mind. The duty of slowing the aliens while not doing that to the team. And he would die in peace, knowing he had came up to the Colonel's expectations.

"Alpha, Beta and Gamma, pull out. Hopkins, how's Sharpe doing?"

"He's as good as dead if he doesn't receive medical attention and he knows it. We can't stop the hemorrhage that the missile blast caused on his chest".

"Me and him are staying behind to give you a bit more time. I'm disabled also Hopkins and I will be a dead weight on the team. Good luck".

The voice on the other side paused for a second before trying to conceal the emotion on his response. "Understood sir. It…it was a pleasure serving under your command. Good luck and goodbye Major Forrester and don't worry, we will make it". A few seconds later Pershing came up but instead of carrying his autocannon he was helping Wright. The man's face looked bleached white to him as he put him behind the concrete block. Pershing did a short salute and nodded to him before leaving crouched until he reached deeper inside the ruins. Wright was laying with his back on the ground and spoke in a ghastly voice. "If you don't mind Major, could you please put me facing the aliens since the pain to do so by myself is too great?" He looked at the medikit attached to his arm and wondered what sort of pain Wright could be feeling that even the medical device wouldn't be able to lessen it. Moving to the soldier's side he rolled him over until he was next to the end of the block. Getting to the other end, he resumed his weapon's fire.

0438 Zulu

Looking at some hundred meters distance from the main facility Johnson saw that Omega squad had nearly descended from the roof using ropes and that Forrester's men were starting to evacuate the facility through the rear section, which consisted of burnt and destroyed barracks and warehouses. His own squad had already joined Markovitch's Zeta, with the other two squads under the Captain's command already scouting more territory ahead.

He counted troopers coming out of the facility and painfully realized that the other ones would never come back. He called on the radio: "Captain, what's the status?"

Instead another voice came to him, of Lieutenant Jerrel. "The Captain stayed behind together with Wright sir. Both were too injured to walk". Jesus all mighty, Johnson told to himself while trying to reach Forrester. He gave up after three unanswered calls, spoke a silent prayer and started organizing the retreat of his team. "You have proven me right Captain", he said to no one.

0439 Zulu

Up on the other end of the security center, Forrester noticed how the aliens had resumed their suicidal attacks with the Chrysallids in no doubt after realizing that the defensive fire had lessened in volume. While the monsters charged the Snakemen appeared to have halted their fire and moving forwards, in no doubt realizing that the humans facing them would have to deal with the death wave in front of them.

He and Wright kept firing and succeeded in bringing down a couple more of the terrifying aliens but the Chrysallids quickly covered the last hundred meters that separated them from the concrete block. The one in front of the horde made a terrifying jump as Forrester showered him with laser fire at close range. The thing flew in the air and over the gray block until it finally landed behind the concrete ruin and both X-Com troopers. Wright tried to turn in the ground but in his condition he only managed to let go of a shout of pain. Forrester moved his rifle to deal with the threat, but his three shots missed as the Chryssalid ran into Wright's direction and landed upon him. "Nooooooo!" He shouted and pointed his rifle at the thing quickly firing it. One of the red beams hit the crouched alien on the head and it dropped to the ground. But it was too late.

Amazement came to the Captain's mind as he saw the gravely injured trooper came up slowly to his feet but then flashes of warning came to his mind, reminding him of what Wright had just turned into and of what he should. But his finger on the trigger of the laser was a second too slow as a large claw suddenly cut the rifle's barrel into two. Then something run into his left side and he felt himself falling. Until he found himself inside a dark, painful hell. 

Mother One, Black Forest, Germany

All scientific personnel currently engaged in Elerium research had been recruited for this mission to help determine what information would be more essential in reproducing the Russian weapon and, more important, the electromagnetic fields used to contain and direct its power. At first they had picked the files whose names were too obvious to miss, but even then they had came up into some dead ends later upon conferring the information upon them. While it would take them many weeks of hard work to compile together all the data and then fully understanding it, right now they could only hope that they had everything they need as they couldn't order any specific file anymore. The system would be sending information until the explosion or a loss of connection, but if they found later out that they need anything else it would be too late. Dr. Chevereux turned to Commander Illyuschenko and reported: "We have everything we think we need. Will they make it on time?" Looking at the time display in one of the command center walls, Illyuschenko simply asked: "Are you a religious man, doctor?"

0627 Zulu

After crossing most of Russia in a flight that included an aerial refuel, the flight of Tu-160 Blackjacks finally prepared their attack run. The second bomber was kept as a reserve in case something happened that prevented the first one to release its missiles and it was circling the area. Meanwhile the first bomber moved in and the power engaged the afterburners for full speed in the attack. When first bomber managed to finally reach the Kh-15 missile maximum range it had already to dodge several plasma volleys shot by the UFO who had gotten up in no doubt to face the plane. When the targeting computer confirmed at lock on Azamas 36, the weapons systems officer alerted the pilot. The attacking Tu-160 opened then his twin weapon bays and fired both missiles. Then, the pilot rolled his plane until they were almost flying the opposite direction, going away for sanctuary in the form of distance and the flights of Russian Air Force fighters waiting for it in the blue sky. 

0628 Zulu

Running like madman in the barren ground, the X-Com tried to put as much distance as possible from the city. They had lost visual contact with the aliens after a series of rearguard confrontations that had been costly to the extraterrestrials. But they had even further delayed the team although now even the faster Chrysallids were to be seen anywhere. Since the Snakemen were too slow to accompany the other aliens or even the humans pace, they were being left behind, allowing the squads to take down the Chryssalids with unopposed long-range fire, since the things didn't carry any plasma weapons. 

The team since then had went through a steeper pace trying to get away from the nuclear blast that was eminent upon them. Johnson kept checking this watch to see how many time they had left. Every military safety procedure was being violated on this escape but that didn't bother all the men and women on the team. Finally when there was only half a minute he shouted: "Time's up! Get some cover!" Everyone immediately dove for any depression on the ground that could cover them from the radiation, shock wave and the heat that was about to come. Johnson looked back and saw that an UFO was getting airborne, in no doubt trying to escape the area. They all tried to dig themselves to the ground as deeper as possible, closing their eyes and keeping their faces turned to away from the city.

0629 Zulu

Both SRAMs dropped several dozens of meters below the Tu-160 after being launched, right before their solid fuel engines started propelling them at a supersonic speed. It would take the missiles less than four seconds to cover the ninety-kilometer distance to Azamas 36 and detonate together in a nuclear blast.

However, a bit more than a second after their launch, the two missiles encountered a wall of plasma shots and the alien's own missiles. Then one of the mini-suns used by the aliens exploded close to the missiles and threw them off course, sending one of them to crash harmlessly to the ground and throwing the other one into the middle of a plasma beam that cut into two parts. 

0643 Zulu

After some minutes of waiting that more seemed like a lifetime, Johnson signaled Corporal White who was covering in the ground close to him: "Something is wrong here. Get HQ online to see what has happened". The trooper took out the communications pack off his back and immediately begun the task of preparing it for a satellite connection. He produced a foldable antenna and opened it, afterwards connecting and preparing the radio. He finally gave Johnson a headpiece. He grabbed it and spoke:

"Magic, Magic, this is Dancer, over". After some seconds the reply from Area 51 came.

"Dancer, Magic up and listening to you. What's your status?"

"Didn't manage to clear the area on time but the explosion didn't go. You know what happened?"

"Word is getting to us from Mother that the enemy managed to take out the attack missiles as they approached the site".

"They what!?!"

"They used antiaircraft fire. What is the enemy up to?"

"We are seeing large movements of aliens leaving the city. Will the Russians try again?"

"Can't tell right now. Are you clear?"

"We are ten clicks northwestern of the city. Will the Russians still try to advance?"

"Unlikely since they were counting that the blast decimated the aliens' ranks"

"Shit!"

"Yeah, get some cover and stay put. We are still deciding how to retrieve you since we can't use the Skyrangers".

Johnson replied and went to gather the senior officers on his command. They all grouped in the middle of the defense perimeter set by the X-Com troops, with Lt. Jerrel as a substitute of the deceased Captain Forrester.

"This is the situation: the aliens shot down the nukes. Most likely the Russians won't make another attempt at this time and will try to hold out the alien offensive, leaving us stranded here since the Rangers would be shot down trying to cross their lines. High Command is trying to sort out this mess, but right now we are right behind enemy lines with no prospects for extraction. Any ideas?" All the other officers looked down in resignation while Johnson tried also to think of a possible way out. After some tense minutes where everyone kept trying not to get on despair, Markovitch raised her head and spoke: "Why don't we blow the fucking nuclear reactor?"

Everyone looked at her as if she was crazy. Patterson replied: "Blow the reactor?"

"I don't know how, I've just remembered. The thing is also nuclear right? If we set some explosives on it or mess up the controls and get out of there on the double, the whole thing could go off and do the role the nukes were supposed to". She threw her hands up and Johnson faced her. "And how are we going to do that Miss Rocket Scientist?"

"Get on the radio and talk to HQ. The nerds over there will sure come up with a solution. Otherwise we are screwed and Russia will never contain this toilet who is about to overflow with shit".

"That's insane Markovitch". Patterson replied shaking his head.

"Piss off Mike. Do any of you have any better ideas?" No one answered her question. Johnson looked at them and spoke: "OK, we will pass that idea and see what they tell us. Meanwhile keep your eyes sharp for alien movement. We can't risk being discovered at this time". He got up and, still crouched moved towards White's position.

Mother One, Black Forest, Germany

Eva Johannes was still wondering what could be the emergency situation that required her immediate presence when she entered the operations room. Commander Illyuschenko was there, along with Colonel MacTaggert, Dr. Chevereux and other senior officers, all grouped around one table filled with maps and sheets of paper. The X-Com commander raised his head and spoke. "We need quickly some technical information on nuclear reactors Doctor and Dr. Chevereux told us you are the person here more familiar with the subject".

"Well I did some work on the area before, Commander. What do you need to know?"

"To put it simple: can a nuclear reactor be rigged to explode as an atomic bomb?"

"Impossible. In a bomb you have a concentrated amount of nuclear fuel that is quickly joined together and bombarded with neutrons at the same time so that the reaction consumes the available uranium and releases all the energy contained on it on less than a millisecond. In nuclear reactors the fuel is separated into rods isolated from one another and the process is closely controlled through the use of neutron absorbent materials. Even when those are removed the heat will blow the plant first before it explodes". Every officer shook its head and Chevereux said: "I told you so Commander". Illyuschenko looked hopeless and but still asked, out of curiosity: "But what if the control mechanisms were removed? What would happen?"

"There on each rod the fuel isn't concentrated enough like a bomb, so the neutrons have to fly further which due to the neutron physics won't be enough for an explosion". The scientist started stating what he had just said before, to make sure Illyuschenko had understood it. "The most that you could achieve would be an overheating of the fission materials that would lead into the melting of the reactor's core and the release of huge amounts of radiation. Essentially the same that happened in the disaster at Chernobyl". 

The reference to mankind's worst nuclear accident in history brought a strange look to Illyuschenko's face and Johannes realized that the Commander probably had beenpersonally affected in some way by it. "Chernobyl…." He started mumbling but turned to the French scientist after some seconds of reflection. "Dr. Chevereux, if something like that happened in Siberia, what would be the effects on the aliens?"

The scientist looked puzzled but started recalling the information he had on the aliens biology and metabolism. "Well, most likely the radiation would cause mutations upon the alien's genetic structure. In the case of the Chryssalids those changes would even be more important due to the fact that they have a fast cell division rate. In humans radiation greatly affects the marrow and reproductive tissues, due to the fact that both of them are quickly generated and the cells don't have enough time to conduct repairs upon the DNA before they divide, with the genetic errors being carried to the next generation of cells. It would also greatly affect the Snakemen, since they carry a lot of eggs. Most likely their ability to self-reproduce would be severely constrained, not to mention other side effects from short and long-term exposure to radiation since the alien's bodies doesn't seem more shielded than ours". 

"Commander, you can't just order the destruction of a nuclear power plant! The environmental damage would be horrendous, not to mention the possibility that the radiation would be carried into civilized areas!" Johannes was shocked at the possibility. Illyuschenko cut her off.

"Miss Johannes, I've had family and friends affected by Chernobyl so I know that are the effects of such a disaster. However, the situation here can turn out into something far worse and I need to consider all the possibilities we have got left. If the aliens push their attack my country's forces will be unable to restrain them to a confined area and judging from their rate of multiplication and the possibility of receiving reinforcements, the whole of Asia and Europe could be lost to them in months or even weeks". 

"You military are all the same, aren't you Commander? Life is just like a bullet. Something to be expended if there's a need to it and all with the justification that without the sacrifice further losses would occur". She shook her head.

"I won't get into this discussion now, Miss Johannes. What I need is that you and Dr. Chevereux tell me how it can be done. If your conscience forbids you to do so, you can always resign the unit. In any case I expect that this matter doesn't get out of this room".

0712 Zulu, Azamas 36, Siberia, Russian Federation

All of the commanding officers had gathered again upon Johnson summon. He still felt uneasy about the orders received from Commander Illyuschenko, but there was nothing he could do since they seemed the last hope available. "In five minutes we head back to the facility and approach the nuclear reactor to make it blow. Looks like your idea was useful after all Markovitch". She looked back at him, shocked. "I didn't know it was possible!"

"From what I've been told, it isn't. But when we get there we will tinker with the reactor's controls to hopefully create another Chernobyl, although we will be long away from it before it happens". He still felt very uncomfortable at the whole prospect of making what could be the worst nuclear contamination in history but had decided to leave those thoughts for after, when they all managed to get back to safety.

Lt. Jerrel showed his fear on his voice: "But even if we are far away from the reactor when it happens, what about the radiation? Tactical nukes are far 'cleaner'. On this case we are going to release massive doses through an large area around the reactor".

"This whole mission had taken that into consideration. The body armour we are carrying is made out of alien materials and we could only get better protection if we were wearing a lead suit. We will have to make a complete clean up of any radioactive particles when we reach the Russian lines but they will have the necessary equipment. The Red Army has been equipping the forces around Azamas 36 for NBC (Nuclear, Biological and Chemical) warfare for the past days so that they can fight in such environments. As long as we keep in cover while the wind carries the particles around we should come out with no problems".

"Shit, we all will be glowing in the dark for the remainder of our lives". Markovitch spat.

"You're not coming to the reactor with the rest of us, Markovitch". She looked at him in surprise as he continued. "The scientists have taken all the necessary information from the backup computers. But we can't leave any trace of our presence here or allow that the Russians access again that information. I want you to go back and retrieve our communications gear and destroy the data stored there". All officers threw interrogatorial looks at him.

"I know what you are thinking. The Russian team also divided themselves and they were crushed. But if we want to savage the entire operation and don't turn into worthless all the deaths that have already happened, we need to do this". She shook her head in concern. "Are you sure you want to do this Colonel?"

She's afraid? Johnson asked himself, not believing that she ever would have admitted it in combat. But as he realized of what she was afraid of he become speechless. She and her men could be trapped and killed like it had happened with Gerasimov's platoon. And if that happened Johnson would never be able to forgive himself and Markovitch would be dying knowing that. He looked at her eyes and said: "I'm sure Sheila. But I trust you and I hope that you feel the same about me". She closed her eyes for a moment and afterwards got up. "There might be some sort of explosives left in the barracks. Two squads, one to take guard while the second rigs the place. I won't need more men". He nodded to her "go" and faced the other officers "Let's start moving".

Mother One, Black Forest, Germany

Dr. Chevereux unfolded a large blueprint over a lit table for all the scientists around the table to see. Printed on white lines and letters, the technical schematics of a nuclear reactor were recognized by all after some seconds. "This is the Soviet built RMBK nuclear plant. Science should serve mankind, but in this case we need to discover how we can make it wage destruction. Basically what we need is to provoke a short, massive release of radiation from its core.

One of the scientists, a former East German, turned to him and said: "That's the same type of reactor responsible for Chernobyl, Dr. Chevereux. I did studies on those in my youth and even worked in one as part of scientific personnel exchanges. If you open the hell contained inside one of them, it will take a lot of work to close it".

"Your warning is noted, Dr. Schmidt. Unfortunately there are more things at stake here right now. If you know of a way who, please tell us so?"

The man thought for a second and then pointed to a group of conducts on the left and right sides of the reactor. "There's one way to do it. First you increase the power level until the coolant water becomes so hot so that even the high pressure can't help it from turning into steam, dramatically increasing the heat inside the reactor since there's no coolant anymore and provoking an explosion. Even though this type of reactors suffered security modifications, we can bypass the automatic safeguards. We then program the control computers to slowly raise the power and at a point to cut down the heat transfer mechanisms. The central core will melt in seconds due to the excessive heat".

"Can the team do it?" The German scientist thought for a second and replied: "I doubt it. Too many things can go wrong and you would need a trained specialist that knows the system. Not to mention the fact that everything should be in Russian and it would take anyone who doesn't know the language too long for it". Dr. Chevereux looked in dismay.

"However there might just be another way. If we destroy the control system and provoke leaks on the cooling conducts the reaction should increase enough to provoke an explosion. Basically one of the flaws in this reaction system is the positive void coefficient. That means that if some refrigeration water is lost the nuclear reactions will actually increase, on the contrary of the majority of the reactors where they automatically stop. That's one of the design flaws that caused Chernobyl and if the system that deploys the control rods automatically to reduce the fission reaction is down the whole thing will go up". 

"The team still has some demolition explosives left. Let's start looking over these prints to where to place them". As Dr. Chevereux finished talking all the scientists gathered more around the table.

0937 Zulu

The nuclear reactor's compartment was a large building attached a larger but lower rectangular one. On its top a cooling tower released the excess water vapor caused by the heat exchange mechanism that refrigerated the reactor and provided heat to be transformed into electricity. High-tension power lines connected the electrical generator to the rest of the facility. The X-Com team had found it to be once again deserted of any people, which sent brought uneasy thoughts to all the troopers after they had finished their sweeps under the still illuminated rooms and corridors. So far Azamas 36 had proven to be completely empty of any former inhabitants, although it was reported to have a population of several thousand military and scientific personnel plus their families and other inhabitants. The thought of what had happened to all those people troubled Johnson and he wished that they all would be dead by now.

Using the indications given by Mother he had sent demolition teams to several points in the reaction. Since the spare radio had been left out at the backup database to beam the research to the satellite they had to use the only one they had left. But it didn't matter. Nothing else mattered. His men were setting up the detonation system, using wire taken from the walls to connect the bombs to the explosives that were being set in different places of the facility. 

What have I done, Johnson asked himself. Everyone on the team was starting to show signs of fatigue after hours of running around. How much further can I push them?

He decided to step outside the room and get some air. Moving out the door he paused to see the morning Sun and decided to find out a near toilet to take a piss and water his face. Crossett started following him but he dismissed the soldier after finding a public toilet down the corridor. As he was pissing he immediately felt more relieved. When he finished he went to the sinks and tried the taps while looking at his face in the mirror and noticing how tired it looked. Water immediately flew out of them and he washed his hands and afterwards brought his head down and watered his face. As he got up again he stopped in the middle as he saw a black thing coming from the corridor behind him. 

Jumping to his left side, he barely managed to dodge the charging Chryssalid, who tried to hit him with its claws right before it crashed into the sink, breaking it and the mirror in the process and falling down on the ground. Johnson was already there and was trying to get up, but the fountain of water coming of the broken taps was making his combat boots skittle in the floor. He reached for his laser pistol but as the alien got up there was a crack sound. The Chrysallid's body immediately became full of small holes, making it stumble backwards. However it quickly regained its balance and lunged forwards again. Meanwhile Crossett reloaded his shotgun and fired another shot at it while Johnson also discharged his laser pistol several times.

A strange liquid started to came out of the locations where it had gotten hit again and it dropped face forward to the ground. Crossett quickly reloaded and filled its gray body with several more shots until he felt assured that the thing was dead. After that he went to see the toilet cabinets in the corridor from where the alien had appeared when he came back Johnson had already gotten to his feet and several other X-Com troopers had appeared. He merely spoke: "Found some human remains back there and an open ventilation grill. The guy must have been impregnated and when the alien popped up it must have decided to nest inside the ventilation system".

Johnson thought it strange but left it to the xenobiologists back at the base to think of what it meant. Despite being shaken from what had happened he remembered however to bark a warning to any trooper regarding enemy stragglers.

0954 Zulu

As Markovitch and her men were exiting the backup system she let go of a deep breath, considering that they had managed to clean up X-Com's tracks and destroy the data contained without a glitch. They had used the lasers first to cut through the information banks and afterwards placed grenades into them before setting the whole place on fire using whatever combustible materials they could find. Sergeant Krenon had found a couple of intact half-full petrol barrels in the remains of the wrecked motor pool and those had been moved inside and their contents spilled over everything. After they had set fire into it and cleared the underground room, a couple of explosions greeted them. They then moved away, before the aliens decided to send a team there to investigate and headed towards the rendezvous point with the rest of the team. 

1129 Zulu

Johnson kept looking at his watch. They were waiting for Markovitch for ten minutes now and she still hadn't appeared at the rally point and they couldn't wait any longer. No further incidents had occurred at the reactor station and they had successfully rigged the place. However they had no way to contact Markovitch after leaving the radio back. She had used the spare to inform them that she had been successful and was heading backwards but that had been thirty minutes ago. He looked at Patterson and spoke: "Mike, they can't be that far". The other officer simply closed his eyes. 

1141 Zulu 

The reason behind Markovitch's delay had been that her squads had stumbled upon a Snakemen patrol as they were close to their destiny. As she gave the order for everyone to hide she realized that it would be useless as the plasma fire was starting already to come from the aliens, together with grenades. Holding her laser rifle tighter she saw as her point man, Corporal Shaw was suddenly cut down by heavy plasma fire, falling dead to the ground as he was trying to get more cover. She immediately spotted the alien responsible for it and sent it reeling to the ground with two well-placed shots into its head and torso. 

However, the situation wasn't getting any better. She had estimated more than fifteen Snakemen and she now was reduced to seven men, which didn't make for terrific odds. In any case they needed to pull back or do something else, since they couldn't call in for help. 

1150 Zulu

As the final Snakemen was cut down by a round of armor piercing shots fired from Pershing's heavy cannon, the men of Gamma and Sigma squads quickly moved forwards, followed on the flanks by Alpha and Beta and covered by Omega's snipers. When they reached the alien's line they went to check that everyone of them was dead. By then the survivors of Zeta and Phi squads had started to come out of their cover positions among the ground. Looking for Markovitch's figure, Johnson didn't spot her in the three soldiers who were know approaching him and feared the worst. He recognized Sergeant Krenon and went over to him, asking almost in a panic: "Where's the Captain?"

The trooper made a weak smile and pointed with his thumb backwards. "Over there. She suffered a concussion from an alien grenade that exploded too closely but she will be all right in a little while. Prune also got injured and Camay is back there taking care of both. Too bad Shaw and Freyuth didn't made it but thanks for the save, Colonel". Johnson immediately placed a hand over the non-commissioned officer's shoulder and the man nodded to him. He stayed there for a minute until he headed towards the group of injured troopers.

Markovitch was lying on the ground with a medikit close to her side but trying to get up, in spite of the objections being made by Private Camay, the female soldier strictly ordering her officer to lie down. As she suddenly noticed him, she immediately said: "About time you decided to show up!" Looking at her commander, Camay decided to let him deal with her and went to check on Prune's status.

He moved closer and replied: "Thanks for keeping them into a straight line. You made them exactly into place for us to ambush them as we were approaching". He offered her a hand to get up. She grabbed it and answered back: "Well, next time don't wait too long". As she was almost up he used the momentum to push her closer to him and hold her in an embrace. "I won't," he said. Markovitch become surprised but didn't step away, the feeling of him suddenly justifying everything.

While both officers stood there the two privates on the ground had dropped their mouths to the ground in complete surprise, looking at the entire situation for some seconds until they wisely decided in silence to ignore it and act as if they hadn't seen it. She started moved away from him and spoke. "Before anything else, you still have to get us out of here". Taking conscience again of the situation he said: "I will. Can you walk?"

She smiled. "I can run if I have to. Wanna race me?" He shook his head. "Get your troops running. We are leaving this wasteland this minute". He looked at the sky. Even in the middle its short summer Siberia looked as desolate as ever. 

1606 Zulu

The X-Com team had finally managed to reach the vicinity of the Russian lines and contacted Colonel Boronin on the spare radio retrieved by Markovitch. When radio contact was finally made he gathered his team and went to pick up Johnson and his men and lead them through the Russian lines. When finally both teams encountered themselves in the no man's land between the Red Army and the aliens, Johnson simply nodded to Boronin when both men encountered and the Russian officer gave an ordered to his radioman. No word was spoken afterwards as they went back and crossed the lines at a different point than the one Boronin had left so that the Russian troopers wouldn't notice that he was returning with far more soldiers. They immediately headed for the Skyrangers, with Johnson noticing how all the Russian camp had turned into a hectic confusion as the radiation cloud coming from the now blown power plant was detected by the radiation meters. He looked at Azamas 36 at saw that the early afternoon sky now seemed to have a pinkish hue coming from the city. Johnson wondered if the radiation would be actually visible, but then decided not to think anymore about it. Now it was the Russians time to deal with all the mess they nearly had gotten everyone into it. Getting into line for the decontamination showers he got ready for the chemical shower that would clean his armor of any radioactive particles attached to it before boarding the planes.

1625 Zulu

The X-Com Russian trooper carrying the radio merely took it down and deployed its antenna, selected an unused frequency and pushed the transmit button. The small electronic umbrella sent a short radio burst up the sky, towards the communications satellite that then beamed it back to Siberia. The satellite engines then made a short burst, making it starting to fall back to Earth. But before it re-entered the planet atmosphere and burned up into pieces the artificial machine executed its orders in space completely unaware of the damage they had caused or what would happen to its own fate.

Many kilometers below the satellite, three sets of explosives all rigged together to the radio receiver went off at the same time inside the nuclear reactor as their detonators were triggered by the transmission. One of them was placed against the conducts that transported cooling water to inside the reactor, cutting them and immediately flooding the room with water so hot that when it came outside the ruptured tubes it immediately went to steam. The temperature rose immediately but in a few seconds it was quickly surpassed by the one of the reactor. The loss of the cooling liquid had immediately raised the temperature of the fuel rods several thousand degrees and increasing the number of nuclear fission reactions taking place inside them. The automatic control system would detect such an event and immediately deploy control rods, which absorbed neutrons and stopped the nuclear reactions, avoiding a disaster. But the second and third explosions had taken out both the system and the electrical power to the engines that operated the rods. Without any force left to constrain its growing power the number of fission reactions increased quickly until the heat generated was too great for the water still circling in the refrigeration tubes, making it explode and take out the cover of the reactor and also the roof of the building that housed it. 

The blast ejected into the outside a cloud of highly radioactive materials from the now melted fuel rods and the reactor itself, including uranium, cesium, strontium and the highly toxic plutonium. The level of radiation in the vicinity of the reactor immediately went up several thousand times, making it dangerous for a human to stand in the area for even minutes wearing a protection. And the reactor wasn't dead yet, still spilling out his deadly entrails away to the wind. It would continue to do so for many more days.

2049 Zulu

Some hours after the explosion the Red Army soldiers begun to see groups of aliens trying to break their lines but in a disorganized fashion. The Snakemen and the Chryssalids seemed more preoccupied in escaping the area than to actually perform an attack, which made easier the job for the tanks and the soldiers. The wind had spread the death area now so that it included most of Azamas 36 perimeter, including large sections of the city. For thousands even millions of years the city would become inaccessible to any human, due to the radiation emitted by the radioactive fallout. The Russian High Command had already determined the cause of the explosion and was moving more men and equipment to stop the release of radiation of the reactor core as soon as all alien opposition was defeated.

They didn't had to wait too long as six hours after the explosion the UFOs took off their positions near the city and headed permanently for space. But Earth's victory was a phyrric one. It would take the Russians many months to contain and seal the open radiation core, even with assistance from all of X-Com's funding nations and the technical assistance of the organization. But unlike Chernobyl the casualties from the clean-up crews that built thecoffin to contain the radiation were lower than in that incident, due to the usage of anti-radiation suits made by X-Com and using the alien alloys. Still, the whole explosion created huge public health problems as the radiation cloud traveled through Siberia and Russia. 

André Galvão, 2001


	15. Misty Evening

X-Com – The Unknown Menace

Chapter Fourteen – Misty Evening

July 29th, 1999

Area 51, Nevada, US

As the C-130H Hercules transport plane finished its landing back at Groom Lake after the mission in Russia, Johnson wondered what other surprises might be forthcoming back home. They had boarded the plane at the Japanese X-Com base, after flying there from the Russian base. The Super Valkyrie had also landed there and had waited for them per Johnson's instructions, which didn't want to risk the plane by flying it again to Area 51 yet. Instead the flying beast had been ordered to fly back and land at Tonopah Test Range, an high security military base situated also in Nevada, some 65 miles northwest of Groom, until the whole matter of General Smith's attempt to sabotage their mission was resolved. 

When the plane stopped completely, the cargo doors suddenly opened and the North American West team deployed, although most of them were in a rugged condition after the vicious fighting at Azamas 36. They escorted the C-130H while it was taxiing to the front of his designated hangar There they were greeted by Major Prescott and a group of X-Com security personnel. Their sight was a relief for Johnson's eyes. As the rest of the team deployed and secured the location around the experimental craft Prescott come up to Johnson and asked, in complete puzzlement:

"Colonel, what is going on here? We have found the body of General Smith after your departure where you indicated, as you indicated together with your order to keep an eye on the USAF's facilities and their personnel, with the full authorization of President Winston".

"Have you entered the facilities?" Johnson kept looking around searching for possible Xenos coming out of the darkness, still shocked by their abilities. Many good men had been lost to them.

"No. I kept an eye on their activities but in complete discretion, as ordered".

"Good. Gather your security force and follow us. We have orders to take control of the whole base".

Prescott's eyes opened wide. "What? You mean the Groom Lake installation? You can't just take over a government facility! That would be considered an act of aggression. We have no authority to do so!"

"Major, I have the order of President Winston himself. It's a long story, but it appears that we have been nesting the aliens right next to us. We don't know what we will find inside, but we are to take control of it and secure all personnel".

"Holy shit!"

"Yeah. General Smith was working for the aliens. I don't know what else he kept in there but we are sure going to find out". Then he started heading for the command section of the facility, the remaining of the team following him.

They found the ground floors to be only occupied with humans, mostly security personnel, test pilots, scientists and technicians. After some hot incidents on which two guards were injured by X-Com fire while resisting arrest, all of the upper floors were cleared. When they arrived at operations center they found the doors locked.

"I guess they must be inside trying to talk to their masters, whenever those are the Pentagon or the Starspawn". Johnson commented while testing the strength of the metal doors. "Some one come over here and blow up this door," he ordered and afterwards when to get some cover. A X-Com trooper come up to the door and removed a package from his backpack. Looking at the door he took some seconds analyzing it and, afterwards unwrapped the explosives out of their plastic cover and started attaching them to well thought places in the door. He then got some detonators, and the red pins were placed on the C-4 explosive around the entrance. Giving his work a final look of approval he when for cover and removed a device from his belt. Opening the safety he shouted: "All clear! Going in Three... Two…. One!" When he pressed the trigger the detonator sent a radio signal in a very specific and unused frequently and gave the order for the chip inside the pins to explode the C-4.

The reinforced steel blew out of its metal hinges slamming against the floor of the corridor with a large metallic sound. The first X-Com trooper that reached it immediately brought out a concussion grenade and pushed the pin, throwing it inside. It made a loud bang two seconds later, and Johnson immediately jumped inside the room after it went off.

The control room was a mess, the smoke for the explosion still present in the air despite of the air conditioning that was pulling it up. The bodies of the military men made unconscious by the grenade rested on the floor, some of them still clutching weapons on their hands. Johnson saw Colonel Billings, the second on command and approached him. The man had his service revolver drawn and was pointing it to the X-Com Colonel.

"Billings, drop that weapon now and tell the rest of your men to surrender! We are taking over this base!"

"The General was damned right about you!" He shouted back and looked as if ready to press the trigger. Sensing the response of his men he raised an arm to stop them.

"Billings, your pistol can't kill me unless you hit me right between the eyes because of the armour I'm wearing and you know that. The President ordered this base to be surrendered to X-Com because of confirmed alien infiltration. If you're not involved on it, drop the weapon. Otherwise, I will have to kill my second traitor on the war, General Smith being the first".

"The General is dead?" He looked deeply shocked.

"Yes. Drop the weapon now!"

He lowered the pistol and, after a second placed it on the ground. "Surrender your weapons men. The President just ordered X-Com to take over, whatever we like it or not". Johnson took a deep breath and thanked whoever had created humans with a safeguard called reason.

After securing the control center, Billings ordered in the intercom for the entire Groom military inhabitants to gather on one huge, unoccupied hangar. The process of rounding them up took some time, since the facility had more than two thousand people.  They were all rounded up and after confirmation that every name present on the rooster was there. When the process was done, he turned to Billings and asked: "Is that it?"

The USAF officer closed his eyes, as if he was taking a grave decision. Opening them again, he spoke: "No. There's another facility close by that you know nothing about. There's few men based there, but it also falls into Area 51's command". 

"Take us there".

"I can't do that Colonel. Those are classified installations!" Johnson pointed his laser rifle at his head and calmly said: "General Smith just tried to kill me before we went off on our mission. I don't know why he did it, but I've just been fighting the most vicious things that I've ever seen on my life and I'm still pissed at this whole thing. I have a presidential order that gives me access to every corner of this base and if you try to stop me, I'll have to assume that you are also under the alien's influence and have to kill you."

The other officer kept his stare at him and replied: "Don't try to bluff me Colonel, I know you won't kill me". 

"Maybe not, but consider this. Everyone on this base is under suspicion of collaboration with the enemy. In case you don't know, the penalty for treason is death. You can either show it to me or wait in the brig for the federals to take you in custody. Your choice". 

Billings swallowed hard and said after a minute. "Very well. The place is some miles from here. We shall need transportation".

"Patterson!" The Major limped to Johnson's side. "Get us some Humvees to carry a full platoon plus me and the Colonel". 

Thirty minutes later the motorized column had already left Groom Lake. At the junction where the road intersected the gravel path to Papoose, Billings said that they should continue going straight into the West. "Where are we going?" Johnson inquired. 

"Area 19. Have you ever heard of it? It's still in the Nevada Test Range but is ran by the Department of Energy". Johnson reminded seeing some references to it on the maps but gave up trying to remember after a while. The whole US military occupied more than one forth of Nevada's State area and it was close to impossible to know all about it, especially since many of those areas were classified and under heavy surveillance.

They kept going through paved roads until finally Billings told them to turn into a gravel and dirt road heading northwest. Finally he said them to stop in the middle of a plain. The only structure visible was a power line that ended on a substation up to the north. 

Looking around and checking on the map, Johnson saw that they were in the middle of Dead Horse Flat but there was nothing here to see. "Where have you taken us Billings?"

"Wait and you will see. Come with me". He looked around, moved over to a location on the basin and dropped on his knees. Johnson immediately started to react but he then saw that the man had started to remove some camouflage tarps. At the distance they were undistinguishable from the terrain. And underneath them Johnson saw sand painted metal doors, buried on the ground.

"Now Colonel. Please let me go in front. There are men down there that be surprised at your appearance. Once I tell them that there's no problem they will follow your instructions, but until then they might overreact to your presence".

"Go right ahead. That way you will be the one shot at if they fire back at us".

"I wish to prevent that Colonel, that's why I'm taking the lead". He opened both doors and started to come inside using a metal ladder that ended on a corridor, with the X-Com troopers quickly following him but taking a look first. The passageway ended on another door.  

With the help of Billings they cleared out the facility from all the upper level occupants, found to be only manned by technicians and security personnel. Johnson couldn't tell what they were doing down here, but he knew that he would have to find out later about it. Right now they needed to clear out the whole installation. He took one squad to check the lower levels, together with Colonel Billings and left the other two squads to guard the prisoners.

When they reached the elevator for the subterranean floors Billings stopped and said: "You are unauthorized to see this Colonel". Johnson tapped his laser rifle and said: "This is all the authorization I need".

"Very well". He passed his card on a magnetic reader on the wall and tapped in a code in a numeric pad on the device. A light suddenly turned green on the reader and the elevator doors opened. It was small and gray with some buttons pressed on it. "Colonel, the elevator won't take all of your men and I'm the only one here with an authorization. I would prefer if it were only you to come down to keep this restricted to as few people as possible. You have my word that nothing will happen to you down there".

Crossett immediately become stiff and Johnson was almost ordering Billings to override the security system when he saw something on his eyes. An impression that told him that the man has saying the truth. 

"All of you hold over here and pay attention to the radio. If I don't say anything in fifteen minutes blow this door and storm the place". Crossett turn to him and said: "Are you nuts sir? You know I have to go with you!"

"Crossett stay here. You have already proven your worth but I feel that there might be something down there that's best if few people know it". The ex Secret Service agent begun to protest, but Billings spoke: "I offer that your bodyguard can come also down but he will have to wait by the lift. Under no circumstance may he leave that area". 

Johnson looked at the soldier. He didn't seem too happy with the idea but shrugged. He nodded then to Billings who looked on his eyes before they all entered the lift. He chose the bottom level button and pressed it. Johnson asked: 

"What's on the others?"

"Research laboratories and machine shops but presently unused. We can stop by those later if you like but I think what you want to see is on that level". Sensing still no threat, Johnson kept trying to relax a bit. After some never ending seconds, the elevator stopped and the doors opened showing three corridors: one in front and the others on the sides of the lift.

"Your bodyguard stays here".

"I trust him completely". 

"This is not about trust Colonel. What you are going to see is something that was kept hidden for many years. If some people knew that you have that information they would stop at nothing to hunt you down".

"OK then. Let's get this over with. But be warned that you won't leave the sight of my weapon".

"This way please, Colonel". He pointed ahead "I will show you how all of this begun". He then proceeded in front and Johnson followed, keeping his rifle ready. Crossett waited reluctantly by the lift giving Johnson the hand sign to keep his head down. The corridor ended up on a massive dark hangar where few things could be seen. "Let me get the lights Colonel. Billing hit a button on the wall and the ceiling projectors immediately started going on. The bright white pointed to a location on the middle of a hangar. And a saucer shaped UFO was on the middle of it. Johnson immediately started to react to the threat but Billings cut in:

"We recovered it on a crash a long time ago! There are no aliens around!" Johnson then noticed that one of the sides of it was smashed. Finding no threats he lowered the laser and asked:

"When? Why weren't we informed?"

"It's a long story and we haven't finished the introduction yet. There's still something else for you to see". He led Johnson back the corridor and turned into the left hallway, passing Crossett on the way who looked in anxiety but Johnson told him that everything was OK. They led to a door and when the turned on the lights of that room Johnson was amazed. 

Sectoids. With their big bulgy black eyes staring back at him with the same gaze they have when they are alive. Four dead Sectoids rested on huge glass cylinders, with half of them wrecked by the crash, others pretty much intact. And the machinery. It was new but at the same time it looked old. 

"For how long do you keep all of this down here?" He kept his eyes on the dead Sectoids. 

"That's where our story begins. There's an office on the end of the other corridor. I suggest you tell your men that everything is OK when we reach it and sit down there to have a talk". They went back, all sorts of questions coming through Johnson's mind. 

After the remaining corridor turned out OK he told his men to stand down and sat on an office chair in front of a desk. Billings sat directly opposite him. 

"I wondered for how much they would keep the secrecy".

"Who? The Pentagon?"

"Doesn't matter yet. Tell me Johnson, have you ever heard of a place called Roswell, in New Mexico?" Seeing his negative answer he continued.

 "Well, back on 1947 there were reports that a flying disk had crashed over there on the desert and that the Army Air Force had retrieved it. The newspapers of the day made a big fuss about it but by the end of the day the military had denied it saying it was a weather balloon. But actually it was true, although there were two craft that crashed, after a midday collision between both". 

"You knew about the aliens since 1947 and didn't warn the world even when they started attacking us?"

"No one on his base knows why it was done or the whole truth. I doubt even General Smith knew. We knew parts and were warned not to discuss them with anyone or even ask for information we weren't supposed to know. The penalty for it would be instant death".

"Who told you that? From whom do you receive your orders?"

"From Smith. From upwards on I have no idea of who gave him the orders. I always thought I had to be someone on the top hierarchy but I never knew. I was waiting for their orders when you burst into the command center, but they never came. Something serious must have happened".

Johnson couldn't believe the man's words. He felt completely hopeless.

"Continuing with our story, one was an unoccupied Apollo-type UFO and was unmanned. That was the one the press talked about and that was brought to Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio by the Army personnel. The other craft is the one you have just seen. And one of the four aliens who were inside managed to survive the crash. I doubt if the number of people that know what come out of his interrogation but whatever he told them before dying, those same persons took immediate efforts to hide their existence at every level and to contact them".

"That's treason to the human race you are talking about. The responsibles are worse than Hitler or Stalin!"

"Colonel, besides them and the aliens no one knows whatever they agreed on when they eventually established contact. I'm not trying to justify their actions, but think what would have happened if things had leaked out and the government was caught in the open, not knowing how to explain it".

"How come we haven't prepared since then for their invasion?"

"Probably they were deceived by the aliens, who knows? Something that is missing on this whole story is the truth. Many of us on this base who knew the secret thought that we were doing something to help the world. This is our planet also. Only when we heard of the formation of X-Com was that we started wondering what had been going on, but we could never say anything against it".

"You are not humans anymore! Have you considered what you might have done? You sold us all to the aliens!"

"You are right on that part, Colonel, although a bit incorrect. We are not totally humans but we still prefer mankind over the aliens".

"What are you talking about?"

"This. The last part of my story". And he brought his head down and raised his hands to his eyes. They moved around a bit and Johnson couldn't understand what the man was doing. Then he raised his head and looked at the X-Com Colonel. Violet, cat like eyes almost mirrored Johnson's face. His first reaction was to get his rifle, which he had laid against the chair. His arm hit the rifle and dropped it to the floor. Thinking fast he took his laser pistol out of his holster while Billings was shouting and raising his hands in a hurry: "I'm unarmed Colonel and I kept my promise I made up there!"

Johnson stopped and saw that the hybrid had taken cover under the table, his arms covering his head. "OK. You can get back up but really slowly". Getting his rifle back while keeping the pistol pointed at him he said: "Now keep talking but with your hands on the top of the table".

"Try to relax Colonel. You will understand when I finished. The aliens gave to certain men knowledge on cloning technology and they decided to try to combine alien and human DNA to create a hybrid. After some initial failures they eventually succeeded. I'm the result of that experimentation, being the first hybrid ever created on Earth. My alien father is one of the bodies you saw in there. They took DNA from it and combined it with human ova, artificially inserting it afterwards on my human mother's womb. I don't think she ever knew she was pregnant since she most likely was abducted and I never met her".

"You are the first? Where are the others?"

"Most of us were assigned to this base as we were conceived, receiving a human identity. Besides the ones here at Area 19 there's still some at Groom Lake. The others I never asked, knowing what the penalty would be like to pose too many questions. Eventually, through the death of the humans who knew this secret or their reassignment to other places we become the only ones on the base who knew of the existence of all this, besides General Smith. We become also the ones who had access to the underground facilities. Other US secret projects, like the Aurora and the Super Valkyrie, were more like a cover. We originally occupied Papoose but we had to move to here when X-Com was assigned to that place. And we could never tell it also to anyone else, because if we revealed our existence we would be hunt down and imprisoned as aberrations".

"You most likely would be plainly sentenced to death or life-imprisonment by any court on Earth".

"Yes. And while we are hybrids, we inherited from mankind some of its distinctive traits, including human feelings and a desire for freedom. We don't support the aliens Colonel, we have seen that our fate will be similar to yours if they take over Earth".

"But if you stay here you will most likely die. At least with them you have a chance of living".

"Yes, but at what price? We also have, like humans and aliens, psionic ability, although we are naturally born to be more conscious of ours. We have heard the voice of the Starspawn, their collective mind or whatever it is, giving its commands. That's slavery for us also, Colonel. And we instinctively fight it the same way you do".

"You have psionic abilities?!" Johnson tightened his grip again on the pistol.

"And humans also. You are just not trained to use them and so aren't we. Not that surprisingly we where never trained on them, otherwise the puppeteers might end up being the puppets. But we don't need them to be free now".

"What do you mean? I have to put you into custody! I can't just let you wonder around"

"You and me, Colonel, we both know what will happen if this comes out. Your troops up there would more likely kill me on sight if they knew about it. And the rest of the world would have the same reaction. But what have we done to deserve such punishment? We were slaves, Colonel, with no control over our lives. We are not directly responsible for our actions, because we done them at gunpoint. I saw many of my companions get punished for questioning even the slightest order".

"That doesn't justify or make up for what you have done!"

"You are right. And to show you that we just want to be able to live without ever harming the human race again we will give Earth something it desperately needs now to survive".

"What could that be?"

"Helping on how to use the alien technology to build UFOs. That was our mission down here to service such craft. We understand their secrets".

"That's a gift too good to accept. What do you want in return?"

"That only you, Colonel, know about our existence here at the base. And if Earth wins, that we are allowed by you to leave and live the rest of our lives in a remote place, but free".

"How do you expect me to trust you? It would be like carrying a scorpion close to my body, knowing that one day it would strike".

"Colonel Johnson, have you ever wondered why General Smith wasn't right away informed of the President's orders when they came and only had time to do a desperate action when he arrived? Could you imagine what he would have done if he had been informed on time by his Executive officer?" Billings kept looking and Johnson suddenly understood that the hybrid had already helped X-Com once. But he kept questioning. 

"Even then, how do you know I will keep my part of the deal? How do I know about you?"

"You will have both answers when I start talking to your scientific personnel and working with them on UFO construction. One way or the other we will reveal what we know for mankind. It's called choosing the lesser evil out of two ones. And if mankind wins, it's up to you then to decide what will mankind do about us Colonel. If you want I will give you the names of all one hundred and sixty-three hybrids here, including myself. I just asked for your discretion meanwhile".

Damn! Johnson cursed everyone and everything.

August 4th, 1999

Geneva, Switzerland

Number Three realized that he needed a lot of maneuvering in order to maintain his status on the group. General Smith's death had been a terrible blow to his plans and the meeting had been specifically called to discuss the results of the Siberian attack. The defeat of the aliens when the nuclear reactor had meltdown and exploded was irrelevant for the whole matter, but the fact that one of his agents had been killed and possibly exposed put a grim future on his horizon.

"Seems that things didn't went exactly as planned. Yes, we have managed to inflict terrible casualties on X-Com and Russia's military capabilities, giving us also move leverage as you planned, but other things weren't taken into account". Number One was still a trained hunter. He knew when his prey was injured and loosing blood. "However, your actions have compromised the security of the group. X-Com have searched Area 51 and found out our little toys. Further if we had been informed on time of this situation we might have been able to prevent it or minor its damage". 

The ten other men in the room waited for him to speak. He knew that this was more than his position on the group. If negative judgment was passed his own life was at stake.

"What they found there is of no significance. General Smith was the link that connected it to us and now he's gone and took all the secrets he knew to the grave".

Number Two added quickly: "But how will they explain the presence of the artifacts? Worse yet, what if they detect our collaborators? That would make them ask a lot of questions".

"A major confrontation erupted right after X-Com took control of our facilities. Some of base personnel resisted imprisonment and in the middle of the confusion about thirty of our agents got killed. The others know that they can only run and try to join us again or keep themselves quiet. If X-Com or any nation ever learned of their presence they would be immediately killed".

"How can you be sure of that?"

"They are half-humans, their instinct to survive will surpass anything else".

"But there's still the actions of General Smith to justify for! There will be investigations to find with who he was conspiring with!"

Number Three knew that he had managed to get the challenge set so that he could play his trump card: "And that's the beauty of it". One and Two both looked at each other suddenly realizing that there were other factors in motion. The leader of them all asked: "Explain".

"My plan involves a deeper destabilization of the Earth's nations. The attack on Russia was the first step. Not only it has brought the Russian to an extremely weak condition but it also drove a wedge between them and X-Com. The failure of Smith to prevent X-Com from retrieving the plasma data was unexpected but it gives us a window of opportunity to exploit".

Pushing one button in the table in front of him, a map of the United States appeared on the wall behind him. "We already had long-time plans concerning the US and those are still in operation. There's time though to make use of rumors concerning a general feeling going through the military high ranks concerning the priority being given to X-Com when dealing with the aliens, something that the late General Smith helped to reinforce. Every X-Com officer of the North American Command is aware of this and quite frankly, if the US President hadn't personally endorsed collaboration with the unit, things would be much different".

"We all know about this before".

"Yes and X-Com also. Remember Eisenhower's words in 1960 when on his farewell speech from the Presidency he warned about the dangers of the military-industrial complex? What X-Com has uncovered is that the presence of the aliens was known before to people on Earth and one general was keeping the secret. He couldn't possibly do it for himself so were are the rest of his associates?"

"In the military". One spoke and Three could see that the rest of the group suddenly realized where he was getting at. Good, Three thought, but not sufficient. He added:

"X-Com will start to have their own suspicions about the loyalty of the high-ranking hierarchies of the US. Worse yet, they will have trouble whom to trust in the US government about it. If you want to hunt, you do not warn your prey in advance. And while they are looking inside the Pentagon we do our own bidding". The trump card was played, it was now time for Number Three to eliminate any further resistance. 

"How? General Smith's death was a major disaster for our intelligence!" One replied.

Three smiled to himself. "He wasn't the only one inside their North American operation". With that sentence and the reaction it provoked on the room, he knew he was again riding the wave. That his value and position had suddenly rose almost back to where it was before the whole fiasco as they paused to consider this new information.  

 "But by your previous statements at the meetings, their access to the technological information is a major disaster". Still, One kept trying, the old fool.

"That technology has its own limitations as they will find out about. Yes, I would prefer that they didn't have access to it, but they eventually would. Let them have it. It won't do anything than slowing down the aliens' forces. And it will keep the aliens dealing with a lot of other things than us".

"All the previsions about X-Com have turned wrong. By now the whole project should have been terminated on financial basis. Instead, from what is reported, the Russian base will soon be operational again with new recruitment and more purchases of war material". "That money can only be coming in through unofficial ways. If the Council of Funding Nations knew about it they will quickly launch an investigation. All we have to do is find out from where it's coming and let the proof reach the Council".

"And what if they find another way to expand their activities? Pretty soon their actions could be close to disestablishing the whole plan and making the aliens unpredictable".

"In that case, we tell exactly the aliens how to crush them. There's one rule in warfare: destroy the enemy's ability to wage a war and you will win the war".

August 6th, 1999

Area 51, Nevada, US

"I take it that you read the official report?" Johnson swiveled on his chair, while looking at Williams. The NSC member had flown to Nevada as soon as he had received the briefing describing the whole operation and the treachery committed by General Smith. He came forward and replied: "Yes. A whole bunch of crap, if you ask me but the President bought it and I pretended to also". 

"Why pretended?" Johnson wanted to put him just in the right position before the strike. Williams looked shocked and countered: "There's more to it than the words you have chosen for the report. One high-ranking US officer doesn't suddenly went nuts and tries to assassinate someone, for Christ's sake!"

"Dr. Mantell did a full autopsy on him and found abduction marks. We have deduced that he must be under alien influence when he did that, although we have no idea of how".

After he was done talking, Williams took a deep look at him and replied: "Something stinks here Johnson and you better tell me what it is. A lot of people down at Langley and the Pentagon find the whole concept unbelievable. A high-ranking US military officer running his own operation and dealing with aliens? Nonsense! I feel that you or someone must be hiding something!"

"Really? Maybe they should think about their own skeletons in the closet before starting to point accusations at us". Johnson barked back in anger. Williams stopped, feeling a great fear. "What do you mean? Tell me the truth Colonel and I will do the same. I told you before that there were things that you better not know about but you might have come with the same conclusions that I did". 

"If I told you what really happened here you would do the same? About the hybrids, the laser technology, etc.?" Johnson waited patiently for an answer. 

Williams shook his head. "No, I couldn't tell you everything. But I could confirm or deny what you think that goes around us, 'unseen'".

God damn it, Johnson cursed. The idiot knew about this right along! He tried to contain his anger. "Well Mr. Williams, what if I tell you that General Smith had his own operation right here on his side of Nevada? And that he had kept a crashed UFO and four dead Sectoids hidden in a secret basement?"

"What?"

"And that he didn't do it for himself for sure. You might have heard about the confrontation that occurred while we were investigating for alien presence. We suspect that it was done by his own agents".

"I read about it. Thirty or something people killed".

"It was self-defense. When we stormed into Smith's little secret in the middle of the desert, they refused to listen to our calls to disarm themselves and resisted. In the middle of the confrontation they all got killed, along with Billings. The official history is different, of course. But so is the part stating that Smith acted on his own. I know that he had help on the outside". 

Two persons already know about the terrible secret I carry, Williams thought. Is it time to bring a third one into it? "Colonel, you are right. I have thought about the events you told before and come up with the conclusion that there is a major conspiracy going on for years to hide the alien presence. I don't know why or who they are but I'm definitely sure that there is one and I'm trying to unravel it".

"Is X-Com infiltrated?"

"I don't know".

"You don't know or you don't want to tell me the answer?"

"Believe me Colonel, there are things that I will only tell you on a need-to-know basis, but in this case I haven't ascertained for sure that possibility"

"Very well". He paused for a minute. Williams broke through the silence.

"Now what's this story about the confrontation? Weren't there any survivors? We need to make a full interrogation into them". 

"Go and dig up their bones then Williams. We have sent you the official report done by the Branch. Your team can interrogate the rest of the USAF personnel at Groom if you want but I doubt you will ever get any answer. That Davies character you sent to us sure can be intimidating in interrogations, let me tell you".

Williams shook his head. "Remember when you asked me if I was holding information? It appears you are doing the same, Johnson. Maybe Davis should use all his talents on you Colonel". A dry grin appeared on the X-Com Colonel's face. "It might be. Remember what you told me about need to know basis? It works both ways. If you need to worry about it I will tell you".

The nerve of the man! Williams was about to complain but decided to keep his mouth shut. "Touché Colonel. Let's just hope that both of us know what we are doing". 

After the conversation was finished and Williams had left his office, Johnson was doing some paperwork when there was a knock on the door. "Come in", he said. 

Billings entered the room but instead of wearing his Air Force uniform he was dressed in civilian clothes, wearing a fake beard and glasses, and behind him came Dr. Mantell.

"Good afternoon Colonel". 

"The same to you Dr. Young". Both of them had decided to fake Billings's death, along with some of the other hybrids and hide their presence inside Papoose Lake complex as X-Com technicians or scientists. All of the other military personnel and the research planes were being transferred up north to the Tonopah Test Range and X-Com would take control of the entire base, both Papoose and Groom Lakes.  

"Dr. Mantell and I have just gone over the research you have already done. I must say I am impressed".

"Well, I must add that we are the ones impressed with you, Dr. Young. For someone out of this project, you seemed to be a quick learner about the basic concepts behind the alien technology". Dr. Mantell added, smiling.

"Dr. Young will be of help then, Dr. Mantell?"

"Colonel, do you remember I had discussed with you before the problems that the X-Com scientific community was having with understanding the navigational systems behind the UFOs?"

"Sorry doctor, but I sometimes get lost in the middle of the technical terms".

"Well, from what I've heard of Mr. Young's ideas, I believe we are about to reach a breakthrough in our research". The scientist was completely smiling.

"Recruiting him was a good idea then?" Johnson looked at Billings, who looked back but said nothing. 

"You bet Colonel, this men is worth his weight in gold to our research. I don't know where you found him, but we couldn't be more pleased with him".

"Very well Dr., I'm glad to hear that. Now if you could excuse us, we still need to take care of some things about his transfer to X-Com". 

"Very well, I will be at the main lab if you need me". The scientist gave a long handshake to Billings and left. After that, the hybrid turned to Johnson and asked:

"Is the bargain still up?" He raised an eyelid. 

"Yeah, don't worry about it, your identity is still a secret. I won't say anything to anyone else right now".

"Good. Will we be transferred to Germany?"

"I don't know yet. It would be better, so that none of the men at Groom recognizes you, but I need to fabricate solid background checks on you first". 

"And on the other hand you still don't know for sure if you can trust us". 

Johnson frowned. The hybrid seemed to be exactly what he was thinking. "It's logical Colonel and I don't have any bad feelings about it. I would do the same in your shoes".

"Scientists and military personnel usually don't mix here. Keep it that way. I've already had a chat with all my soldiers who went to Area 19 and told them to keep their mouths shut". 

"Was having enough of military life already. Thank you Colonel". 

"Just try to get out of sight from anyone that might recognize you. And remember I'm watching you".

August 7th, 1999

Kremlin, Moscow, Russian Federation

On this way to see President Larianov, Illyuschenko had noticed the preparations being put into place by the Russian government to prepare for war. He was accompanied with Colonel Boronin and both men had flown from Stalingrad base in the Caucasus to Moscow using a military flight. The Commander noticed how under the disguise of an escalation of the conflict in Chechnya and the radioactive cloud released by the reactor in Siberia, Moscow and all major cities had been put into almost martial law, with the authorities claiming it to be due to possible "terrorist attacks from fanatics". The radiation released had spread itself largely in unpopulated areas, but those would still need years of cleansing. It was a major ecological disaster but at least the aliens had been contained although few people back at X-Com liked to discuss the matter. Even Dr. Chevereux had privately expressed to him his doubts about if the retrieval of the information had really been worth the disaster they had caused over Siberia.

The X-Com Commander had before heard of such actions, specially the ones dealing with press censorship but now on the way from the airport to the Kremlin he finally saw a nation preparing itself for war although his citizens didn't knew it yet. There seemed to be roadblocks everywhere and he had seen columns of mechanized vehicles and antiaircraft missiles posted close to the highway. His grandfather had participated on the defense of Moscow from the Fascists hordes and he thought if it was the same, back then and now. Every soldier they passed acted as if there was an under siege mentality although he could see that many seem to care less at the order and a few even scowled at it. However some looked seriously worried and Illyuschenko wondered what rumors might be coming out from the survivors of the Red Army units that had fought the aliens at Azamas 36. Larianov is a fool if he thinks he can keep the lid on that one through press censorship, Illyuschenko said to himself, not even the Communist Party managed to control gossip. 

Idiots, haven't they learned that they cannot defeat the aliens this way, that even with all the tanks and guns we are outnumbered? He said to himself while going through the Kremlin's reinforced security checkpoints. When he reached the outside of the President's office he looked over at this uniform. For concealment reasons he could never hear his X-Com's dress uniform, so he had dug up his old Russian Army clothes and put them on. It had been a strange experience at that moment back on Mother One, he remembered as he looked himself at the mirror before boarding the flight to Moscow. What seemed to be an entire lifetime had pasted before his eyes, from the moment he had been chosen to the Kiev Academy and later when he had finally received the General's star. A whole lifetime! Was it worth it? Is it worth right now? Clearing his thoughts he entered the room. He was curious to know the reason of such a request from the Russian President to have a meeting personally.

When he and Boronin entered the room he saw Larianov, together with several other government officials. Oddly he saw that there had been some changes in the Russian Cabinet lately. Irinov, the Defense Minister, was no longer among them so he considered that the man had been dismissed from his job due to the Siberian fiasco. Something strange was also present and Illyuschenko noticed why in a flash. Now there was a huge Russian flag unwrapped on the wall behind the standing-up men, where before it was standing on a pole. Are there men trying to impose patriotism on me? He asked himself and started noticing other subtle hints. The fact that they had invited him to the Kremlin, making him to have to leave his X-Com uniform behind and wear his Russian one. And where's that master spy Verchenko? Dismissed or hiding behind the scenes, manipulating? He decided to not let them have an advantage on him.

He didn't bother to give a salute and spoke out "_Commander_ Dmitri S. Illyuschenko presenting, sirs!". Boronin seemed was puzzled at the General's presentation and saluted afterwards, apparently not noticing the emotional trap laid by the other men.

President Larianov seemed a little frustrated but greeted them back and told them to take places at the meeting table. After everyone was seated, with the Russian government facing both X-Com officers he spoke again: "Thank you for your short time in granting us with a meeting, General. I want to clarify some things out after the shameful incident at Azamas 36". 

Trying to act as normal as possible Illyuschenko threw a disguised barb. "Our country was extremely lucky that the reactor had gone critical at that point, sir. Of course we will have to deal with the radiation released for decades but the aliens left the area". 

Larianov stiffed. Stupid General. I don't need to be reminded of my failures. "Yes, extremely lucky. Of course we were sure that our next counterattack would be successful".

"Of course sir. But this conversation is meaningless. What do you wanted to discuss about, sir?". Boronin caught the meaning behind the tone and his eyes turned briefly to the General's attention.

"I…we…this whole matter made us rethink of our recent rifts with X-Com. After all your are Russia's prime fighting force when facing the aliens and the help you provided during this month's confrontation although unable to stop the destruction of the research facility showed your resolve and courage". He wants something, Illyuschenko immediately considered, but what?

"It was our duty sir"

"Yes and you have done it to the best of your capabilities while we have not try to do so in our duty, which was to assist you".

"Sir, you have your duties and rights stated in the X-Com Charter. There seen to be a certain latitude on every nation to interpret what says there".

"Well General, in this case we want to go a bit further than that. One thing that the attack has shown us was the fallacy of keeping away technology from X-Com. Let's face it, the Americans are willing to lease their latest Stealth fighters. Why don't we do the same? After all none of Earth's technology seem to be able to throw a major punch at the aliens. And only X-Com can develop weapons that will benefit us all one day". Illyuschenko had to keep himself from jumping at the man.

You mean, now that the perspective is so great that the council will dissolve X-Com due to its financial problems, you bastard. If the project were terminated, all of you vultures would quickly land to pick its pieces. Well, I know two things that you don't. First, our money situation is not getting worse, at least and it might even get better. Second, my people have recovered the laser technology that would have been lost because of your jealousy. It would give me no more pleasure than to tell you the truth but I would be putting X-Com's and Earth's future at stake. "Thank you very much for your cooperation, sir". He replied, trying to put as much enthusiasm in his voice as possible.

The meeting ended after two hours of discussing several matters regarding coordination with Russia's military and the cajoling almost drove him nuts meanwhile. He and Boronin then left the Kremlin and boarded two different VIP cars that had brought him there from the airport. The vehicle carrying Illyuschenko then proceeded to one hotel in the center of Moscow while the other returned to the airport. 

The official reason for his prolonged stay in the Russian capital was the excuse of visiting his sister and some old-time military friends. But the real motive that had brought him here appeared as he reached the hotel and was about to enter his room.

When he spotted the two men coming down the corridor he stopped the motion of inserting his bedroom key into the hole and looked at them. They were the latest Western suits but they physique told him that they were no businessman. When they approached him one of them spoke: "General Illyuschenko?"

"Yes, who are you?"

"We are here to escort you to the meeting you requested". He looked at the door. "Are you alone?"

"All by myself".

"Very well, this way please then, sir"

"I've met your type before and they weren't this polite usually. How do I know you are who you claim to be?"

"Sir, even out of the Red Army I will always respect you as an officer".

Illyuschenko blinked and realization came to him right afterwards. "Where?"

"Afghanistan, a whole lifetime ago. You went to retrieve my company after the guerrillas had trapped us. To the dead and to the living".

Illyuschenko kept a hard face and nodded. "To the dead and to the living. Please lead the way gentlemen". They took him to a hotel suite in the last floor. Three other men were waiting inside, two of them more henchmen. But the third one was different, having a more casual look, with his fingers full of gold rings and a well-trimmed beard. When Illyuschenko entered he turned the swiveling chair he was seated at and said: "General, it's been a long time. You disappeared without a trace last year".

"Yes indeed, Mr. Arbatov. And business keeps to prosper I see".

The man shrugged. "What can I say? It's a shame that people keep fighting one another, but if I don't supply them with what they need somebody else will. Even NATO's involvement in Kosovo didn't change anything. We just had to change into supplying the other side".

"Business as always, indeed".

"And the way the government is acting, pretty soon they will be starting to buy things from me also. What is going on, General? Russia's looks as if it is getting ready to go to war". 

"Before we go on, is this room secure?" The man nodded. "I can't tell you anything about it. However, I can tell you of some interesting surplus war material I've got".

"I see. The same type of material that was 'destroyed' in Chechnya?"

"Even more advanced". The phrase drew a look of interest into the arms dealer's face. "I can arrange for a demonstration and them we can discuss prices. But no one else besides us in this room knows about its precedence". He looked at the security men.

"I trust these men with my life and pay well for it. And if they ever spilled their guts they know that they would die shortly and very, very slowly. The same restrictions as with the other batches?"

"You will find that this sort of material demands a different customer". Illyuschenko basically didn't care of where the alien weapons would end up. A few plasma weapons all over the world wouldn't make much difference, especially due to their reliance upon Elerium for fuel. Tests at various research facilities had proven the impracticability of artificially manufacturing it and it was not a natural element on the planet.  That reduced the military use that could be given to the weapons. Most likely they would end up in other organized crime bands all over the world and be used into special actions. In either case the appearance of a plasma weapon in the black market could always be attributed someone stepping into a crashed UFO.

"There are all sorts of weird stories in the street about what's going on. That material wouldn't have anything to do with it, would they?"

"Draw your own conclusions Mr. Arbatov. But I would say that is some knowledge that would be best kept silent". He tapped his belt where his sidearm would be if he was carrying and the guards nearly jumped at the threat.

"Relax! All of you! The problem is that they are young heh? They don't go as far as I and haven't seen before how you deal business General. But that's what I like about you: straight to the point. Don't worry. You know that I'm loyal to both costumers and suppliers". He pointed at the ex-soldier that knew worked for him. "After seeing him I got convinced that if I ever killed you I would be hunted down by your men when they found out".

Illyuschenko took the hand off his belt. Exactly you low-bunch criminal. Interesting how even scum can be important in times of need. Our financial situation has gotten a lot better in the past months but even still the expenses are still increasing. If the whole Swiss deal goes off we would be even worse than before it. And Chechnya told me that black market deals can be sometimes the most reliable source of money, to hell with the law or moral. You are about to become a safeguard to X-Com, Mr. Arbatov. Looking at the arms dealer he didn't felt too assured but many more would be willing to step into his place, if the man needed to be replaced.  

August 26th, 1999

Mother One, Black Forest, Germany

When the door of his office suddenly opened, Dr. Chevereux raised his head from the paperwork he was working on and looked in anger at the intruder.

"Qu'est-ce passe?" He grimaced as he recognized the person in front of him. "Dr. Johannes, what's the meaning of this?!"

The scientist took deep gulfs of air and tried to calm herself before speaking: "Dr. Chevereux. It works!" The Frenchman looked at her in puzzlement until realization came to him. "The test engine?!"

"Yes! The first results have just come out. It's amazing! Come and see!" Both of them headed out for the test facility on a run. When they reached the armored room they entered and saw that the blast windows in the control area that opened into the experimentation chamber were opened, with an orange light coming out of them. Dr. Chevereux immediately stopped and shouted while pointing at the windows: "What is that? Do you want us all to die?"

Johannes grabbed his arm and pushed: "There's no problem anymore, we have the reaction perfectly controlled". She led him into a computer and pointed at the numbers that were scrolling at the monitor. Chevereux looked into them and started enunciating: "Elerium decaying at a consistent rate. Electron release also, wait! These values can't be right! Mon Dieu! Particle flux going into the reactor at two hundred percent over the safety levels!" He turned to the scientist in charge of the experiment. "Electromagnetic field status?"

The man seated grinned: "Reactor giving more than enough energy output to maintain the containment field. We are actually powering this portion of the base with the remaining energy since we don't have way to store it. The trick was to coordinate between raising the particle accelerator's output and increasing the power of the electromagnetic containment filled, but we have already come out with an equation. Watch the monitor Dr. Chevereux".

The scientist did and saw that the amount of particles bombarding the Elerium increased, corresponding also to a high emission of energy from the matter-antimatter reaction. The particles were hitting the Elerium and making it release antimatter. The antimatter annihilated with contact with matter and energy was created. But this time they were controlling the reaction and the energy so that the Elerium wouldn't detonate out of a sudden.

A thousand technical words came to his mind about what he was just seeing but he settled with a single one: "Amazing". His mind was already racing and trying to picture what applications this source of power would allow, besides being able to understand the alien's weapons. 

The chief scientist turned to him and said: "And it looks that the outcoming energy flux needs no further suppy of power to electromagnetic containment, which could make even more power available. I suspect it has to do with the creation of the gravity field.

Dr. Chevereux frowned in surprise. The scientist noticed and then realized what was happening: "She didn't told you about the rest?"

"What rest?"

 "Watch the reactor Dr. Chevereux. I couldn't believe it myself the first time I noticed it in the camera, so I had to lift the blaster windows to see it with my own eyes". He slowly increased the test reactor's level. Then, slowly, but in a constant ascent the almost two meters high started to lift from the ground as if it was being suspended by the cables still attached to it. Chevereux went livid at the sight.

"Anti-gravity….?"

"We will have confirmation in about a week, as the measure equipment I've just required will take about that long to arrive and to be installed. But the visual results are there to prove it".

Dr. Chevereux stood speechless, looking at the first man made Elerium reactor. This would earn a Nobel Prize in Physics for everyone on the team. Hell, they were about to rewrite physics as it was. But even something more important would come up from this discovery. He took a breath and spoke: "All of you mark this day. Mankind is about to conquer the stars". 

August 30th, 1999

Unknown location, Earth

The Sectoid Commander finished transmitting his last report. Everything was going according to the plan so far although they hadn't expected that the Terrans would be able to fight so well the Starspawn's forces. Still, they had managed to fulfill every major part of the plan until now and his superiors were pleased, although a bit concerned about the losses of troops and equipment.

There were still some things to explain though. Although the atomic weapons used by the Terrans had been destroyed before they reached the spaceships, one of them must was able to penetrate their defenses and release lethal doses of radiation in the area. His ships were shielded against such explosions but the forces on the ground were not and they had been caught on the open, without any protection as they were about to press their attack. The only option had been to retreat the remaining assets but it didn't matter. They had already fulfilled their objective, the destruction of the Terran weapon.

But by now they had another foothold on the planet. The ancient base set up by the exploratory teams a long time ago had been found intact, with no signs of Terran interference, like planned. The Starspawn had by now extended the original facilities and it was ready to be used in the next steps. Due to its location, they would most likely never find it. And if they did…

André Galvão, 2001 


	16. Paradise Lost

X-Com – The Unknown Menace

X-Com – The Unknown Menace

Chapter Fifteen– Paradise Lost

September 20th, 1999

Area 51, Nevada, US

After the virtual reality helmets were put on by everyone else present in one of the labs back at the Groom Lake section, Dr. Young proceeded with his presentation. Every one of the scientists and military personnel present was wearing a circular helmet covering their eyes with an electronic visor. But the former USAF officer was also wearing gloves covered with electronic devices and he used his right hand to click a mouse connected to on a computer standing on a table beside him. All the men and the women in the room saw themselves suddenly transported to Earth's orbit and standing in the middle of space looking at the planet. Looking around themselves they noticed how the virtual environment even included a burning Sun that seemed too bright to be looked at and a multitude of stars like they never imagined, since now there wasn't any atmosphere to hide their light.

And suddenly all of them were at shock, seeing what seemed to be an UFO navigating towards them and closing the range until they were looking at a half-size representation of the craft. Dr. Young's voice broke their attention.

"This is where virtual reality can be quite helpful". He motioned the craft, one of the saucer shaped type, to stop and it did at his command. The side door opened after some seconds a two-feet height Sectoid came out of it, his size making it ridicule.

"Analysis of the aliens captured or killed show that there are variations on theirintelligence skills, depending on race and position occupied on their societies. Sectoids are smarter than Floaters or Snakemen, for instance, and the leaders also show seem to shown more skills than the ordinary ground troops. But for the most part their mental abilities are close to humans, except in the psionic area, such as mind control, where we have already heard about their terrifying abilities. This range of abilities found plus the studies conducted on the interfaces found among captured UFOs seemed to say that some of the aliens could be pilots that use physical devices to connect their minds to the navigational systems". The alien suddenly had a circular metal helmet with a goggle covering his right eye. His hands were also covered with metal gloves, connected to the back with extensions of an unknown material. 

"However we were unable to determine yet what physical process they use to connect to their physical machines. It is highly likely that they use their mental powers to interact with some yet undetected device on the helmets, but we don't know.

But it gave us a clue on how the alien's computers operate. We had already determined that the mainframe consists of a network of highly efficient optical processors all aligned together. The mathematical operations done by the processing unit are transmitted through the use of photons, not electrons as in our machines. But surprisingly, it resembles Earth's own network systems, where all computers are connected through a master terminal".

Johnson tried not to frown. What was he saying? That the aliens invented the PC and that Smith's superiors got the technology from them? He made a mental note to remind Billings not to mention too much the similarities between both technologies.

"However, we still don't have a clue about their operating system that they use to give instructions to the computer on how to operate the craft, for an example. But we know how they must interact with it and may be able to use it to decipher their own machine code". An image of a man seated at a computer appeared close to the alien.

"So far our interaction abilities with the machine were quite limited and time delayed. A computer can only be that fast has it receives the necessary input to perform mathematical operations. But the possible means of mental interaction that the aliens use have led us to believe that the power of their computers to deal with the complexity of physical reactions coming from navigating an UFO must implicate that they have succeeded in removing many barriers between mind and machine.

Artificial intelligence is quite limited and we may never be able for a computer to have the human's capabilities of intuition, imagination and so forth. However, if those abilities are available and directed the computer through the use of the human user, what would happen?" The artificial human representation was suddenly wearing a virtual reality helmet and the whole environment around the seated group suddenly changed.

Instead of being in Earth's orbit they were now navigating through a series of one and zeros coming out of nowhere. "Ladies and gentlemen let me present you the inside of an alien computer. It is actually working right now in another place of the facility and we are seeing a processed view to be able to see the mathematical representations. The computers we are using to allow this are many times more capable than Big Blue, the machine that defeated the former world chess champion Kasparov and still we have problems about being on the edge of their abilities. If we connect directly to the alien mainframe this is what we could see".

The image suddenly transformed itself into a series of strange symbols floating in the air, which were a mixture what seemed to be hieroglyphs and Chinese characters. "These are all suppositions about what we will find when we enter their system. The helmets they wear must be able to interpret their mental commands and transform them into computer instructions similar to these you are seeing. However, since we can't operate the devices we don't know what type of data is transmitted to the operating system. What we are doing is like linguistics trying to decipher a completely unknown language, looking for recognizable patterns". The room again changed into the zeros and ones. "And as you can see it can be quite complicated". The image lasted for a couple more seconds and gradually it dissolved into the room where they were seated. The whole group removed the helmets and some shook their heads and took deep breaths. Dr. Chevereux was in the front row and said:

"Dr. Young, that was a _magnifique_ presentation. I am most impressed by the amount of work you have managed to do in such little time since you joined X-Com. You will receive more means as soon as possible to keep developing your team's research. What is most urgent in your requirements?"

Pharris replied on that one. He was wearing an X-Com uniform instead of his civilian clothes and had gotten closer to Dr. Young. 

"Even the computers we have back at the NSA can't possibly deal with the amount of calculations necessary. It could take ages attempting to resolve the code, since we have no way to start. However, if a human operator, like I have exposed before aided them, we could greatly speed the process. It's something never tried so far but it seems that now the technology might allow a shot at it. 

"What do you propose?"

The cryptologist added. "What we have here are pentas, even tetrabytes of data that need to be examined to try to detect patterns. A computer can do it, but meanwhile it goes over a lot of unnecessary stuff since they are not intelligent enough to see hidden patterns. However, if we use one of this to enhance the communication between the human operator and the machine, the individual connected to the computer can tell it what are the most interesting pieces of data. The processors will then concentrate on those, hopefully reducing the process. However the operators would have to be highly trained in dealing with operating systems and recognizing patterns". 

"We will get the best computer scientists". Pharris shook his head and replied to Dr. Chevereux. "Not scientists. We need a very special type of individuals, indeed". 

September 29th, 1999

MIT, Massachusetts, US

As Jake was getting closer to his dorm building he told himself to quit being so paranoid. He had stepped outside to the nearest convenience store to get himself some soda and food before heading back to his computer at his room. He needed to complete an assignment for one of his Computer Science classes. Although he knew that he could make big time money without a college decree, he felt that if he knew how to walk decently he would run even well later.

Unfortunately the money didn't seemed to be enough for everything, from keeping up with the hardware and paying for the tuition fees, so some of his computer talents were used to get illegal means of financing. But he was a quiet type of hacker, erasing all signs of his presence into the databases that he had broken into to steal credit card numbers. He took every step not to get caught but there always a risk that one investigator might one day get an electronic trail back to him.

He tried not to think of it when the subject came up on his mind, but the dark-haired man he had seen at the convenience store wearing dark glasses and a suit had troubled him. He was reading a magazine at the newsstand but as Jake looked occasionally from the counter line at him he saw that the man looked to be focusing his attention on him. He acted calm and never looked back when he paid and left the store, but dropped the change on purpose outside and away from the store to see if the man would come out.

Nothing had changed, so he kept walking back towards campus but still a bit shaken from the experience. As he was going up the stairs and looking for his keys, he saw that the entrance door suddenly opened and the same man came out from the building, but with his glasses removed and looking directly at him. Noise of cars come from behind him and he turned to see two cars parking in front of the building, with more suited men coming out from them. 

A voice made him turn. "Good evening Mr. Landon. Federal Bureau of Investigation. Please don't try to escape". The man had moved closer to him. 

"What do you want? I did nothing".

"Really? Well I could bust you right here for violation of several federal laws regarding impersonation, theft and illegal entry into protected computer systems". 

The young man looked in despair and said: "I ain't saying nothing anymore until I talk to a lawyer". 

"It's your choice kid. But first listen to what I got to say: I can read you your rights and the gentlemen back there will cuff you take you away to serve a long time sentence after the trial. Or you can come with us also and in exchange for your collaboration the US government won't press any charges against you and forget the whole subject".

Jake was suddenly puzzled but still remained cautious. "Yeah? And what is this 'collaboration' all about?"

"You won't know until you accept it. But it will be put into writing by the US Attorney General to guarantee what I have just offered".

"No bull?" Jake was skeptical of the whole matter. He still hoped that he might put this off in a court. 

"Your choice. The way I see it and I know you know it also, your ass will end up in a federal prison if you don't accept it. Our experts have already figured out how you entered the Bank of Connecticut system and traced it back to you".

Bank of Connecticut! Jake remembered that it was his hardest successful attempt and he had taken triple care on that one. Even if they only had a hint that it was himself on that one, what would happen if they investigated his other hackering activities. Who told him that they hadn't already? As the question raced through his mind he already knew what to do. 

"Well Mr. G-man, where do I sign?" Mark Davis smiled to himself upon hearing those words. Although he wasn't any more part of the Bureau, some things were still the same. He waved back at the other agents and two of them went forward to meet them. "Get a suitcase ready. Pack to be away for a long time. These agents will escort you". Leaving the room he went back to one of the cars that were waiting outside. 

October 7th, 1999

Pacific Coast, Washington State, US

Sitting at the crew compartment of the Skyranger, Markovitch kept fiddling with the motion scanner she had on her hands, wondering if the technical gizmo developed by the lab rats back at Area 51 would be any good in a real fight. It could tell the operator of any unseen movement close by, even behind walls and doors. But in the inside of an UFO there would be hardly any time to use it while dealing with the alien crew. 

A light changed from red to green in the plane's inside and she got up, placing her armored helmet on her head on the way and preparing to hit the ground. The pilot already knew that she despised unnecessary talk before deploying into a landing zone so he just landed the UFO and operated the controls that lowered the ramp without making any announcement. 

Some hours ago the F-22s had shot down a medium sized UFO as it was on a trajectory that would lead it into Seattle. Alien activity had been picking up since the beginning of the month, with mysterious UFO flyovers over continental US that involved high-speed dashes and landings that only lasted for some hours. The Colonel thought that something was strange so he had left one of the platoons back on base in case something unexpected turned up and had assigned her to investigate the crash site.

The Skyranger suddenly dropped on the air and everyone on board grabbed whatever they could to keep themselves standing up, while the landing gear deployed in preparation for touchdown. The back tires where the first to hit the ground and afterwards the ramp immediately started going down, with her troopers following. 

She waited tense seconds in anticipation as the squads in front of her deployed around the landing zone, trying to anticipate the sounds of the plasma and laser rounds. But none came and as the soldiers gave the all-clear shouts, she relaxed a bit before stepping down.

Sergeant Digriz, no Lieutenant Digriz, she corrected herself approached her as she stepped out of the ramp, her eyes already looking over him. The tall and slim man had been promoted after Siberia upon her request. "Cap, the area around the UFO seems clear. Phi squad has already found a covered path down the cliff to the beach".

"Let's have a look at it". She moved to the edge of the cliff where the Skyranger had landed and squat down, getting her binoculars out and taking a look. Down below them, the UFO had crash-landed into the sandy beach, its hull digging a long trail on the sand as it had skirted close to the waterline until it finally stopped. The sea had already invaded the depression caused by the UFO on the sand, filling it with water.

Searching for aliens, she found none in the area around the UFO, which seemed odd, but as she assessed the damage taken by the alien vessel on the crash she wondered how many of the aliens had survived the shoot down and the impact. Although the circular UFO was one of the largest she had ever seen, possessing several levels and being easily four times the diameter of the saucer shaped ones, it showed horrific damage. The Phoenix missiles used by the interceptors had bent the fuselage were they had hit it and in some parts they had even managed to blow feet sized holes, through which smoke could be seen coming out.

"There's a door on the north side, Captain". She moved to that side and spotted the entrance Digriz had just told her about. For the size of the UFO it didn't seem enough. Could it be that there was another door on the side hidden from their view? "Set up two fire teams up here to cover everything that is not human that moves down there. And let's get down. I want to see what's inside that bird". The Lt. nodded and she went to the direction were Phi squad had spotted the trail down, her own unit following her.

As they came down the cliff through a natural trail that covered them from the UFO, the X-Com soldiers heard gunfire exchanges followed by Digriz's warning on the tactical radio that they had managed to take down a couple of Floaters who had just come up from the other side of the craft. When they hit the sand they moved carefully towards the UFO, with each of the two squads taking a different approach around the craft's fuselage.

When Zeta squad come up to a door, Markovitch and her soldiers got ready outside the door. At her command one of the troopers activated the entrance and the metal door slipped up. The other three X-Com soldiers filled the inside with a red and golden shower of laser fire. When no response came, they started moving inside and Markovitch stepped inside right after one of her men. She found herself in the inside of a small chamber where a dead Floater laid, still clutching his large plasma. Trooper Prune, the first one inside gave it a kick in the head to check that it was truly dead. It didn't move. 

The entrance chamber opened to the right into a larger area. Another trooper passed beside her and checked a huge blast hole in the door's front; large enough for a men pass through. She joined Prune and both when to check the right. As she went over the corner she dropped her laser a bit when she finally had a good look at the inner area.

It was the largest room she had ever seem on a UFO, more than two stories high and occupying at least one quarter of the craft's area. And on the middle there was a table that resembled the ones used by the aliens to perform their hideous experiments on humans, except that this one was much larger and had some sort of a big device over it. And the room had also man-sized containers of a material that seemed glass. Looking at them, she felt a feeling of revulsion, noticing that there were pieces of meat and organs still blood red, floating on a clear liquid. And looking at the bottom of one of them she saw bones: a pair of horns that looked as if it had came from a cow. And a human femur, gleaning white. She immediately turned her head away and at the same moment she heard the sound of a door being opened. Her mind immediately told her that there was something strange, since all her men were already inside the UFO, but all of the soldiers failed to see the menacing looming over them.

When a plasma suddenly hit Private Malcolm, who had just entered the larger chamber, round and went down to the ground screaming, she started looking for the alien, but failed to see it. Prune was quicker in assessing the situation than her and brought his rifle upwards, firing three precise shots.

She looked at the direction of his aim and saw a Floater dropping off from the air and hitting the metal ground close to her. Only then she noticed the door that was located in the upper floor. "Shit!" She muttered, pissed at herself. While Prune kept a watch she went to check Malcolm. Moving his body she noticed the limpness on him and when she looked at his face she saw the blank expression. Dead, in no doubt. She didn't found a pulse so she lowered his eyelids. "Status report, all squads". She ordered into her mike.

"Phi has dropped a Floater standing outside another door that leads into one of their elevator. One light injury. We are moving to see what's upstairs".

"Cap, Dare here. I've checked the hole. It leads into the engines, which are completely fubar. I've find also another elevator on a room close by". She quickly assessed the situation and spoke back. "Phi, get ready to get upstairs on my command. We will check the other elevator to the East of your position, so take care with what you shoot. Rho, get a team to my location and have them cover a door on the upper floor of the chamber where I'm standing at". Prune's laser went off again and she quickly ducked, only to get up again as she heard the thump of another dead Floater hitting the floor. "Shit! If only we could freaking fly and get to that door!" She told to no one. 

They went up the elevators at the same time, which lead into two other rooms connected through another door and finding no aliens inside. Her squad joined Phi in the chamber where they had come up. Three X-Com troopers were waiting there for her, covering two other doors. One of them turned to Markovitch and said, pointing with one of his hands to a device attached to his belt: "Captain, I've tried to use this thing, but it doesn't make any sense. Too many echoes from too many people moving around and some of them in the wrong place". She looked at the motion detector. "Fuck that crap. We do this the way we do it the best".

Sergeant Krenon nodded and motioned with his head for the other men on his squad. They opened both doors at the same time. This time plasma came through one of them, making the soldier quickly step back inside. The other one rushed. Markovitch could only see a metal wall and wondered what the man was up to. After two brief seconds the response came to her on the tactical radio: "Grenade!" A muffled explosion coming from the other door was heard, followed by the clear warning.

They all moved into the next room where they found two Floaters torn into shreds laying in a pool of clear liquid that came from wrecked containers. Again, another door could be seen to the right, together with a corridor. "Sarge take the corridor. We will go this way. We must be close to the bridge so watch out". He nodded and she readied her men.

They found another empty chamber and an elevator. Going upwards into another desert room, they finally went again through another door. Markovitch opened it and took a look. She noticed that the command bridge of the UFO must follow the hull, making it a half circle with a central rectangular section that extended itself to the back of the craft, where Markovitch was now standing. She could see two other doors, one in front of her, in no doubt leading to the corridor they had spotted on the first floor and that Phi Squad was now checking. To her left there was also another door probably to an isolated room, but she spent no time going through it. Her eyesight had already detected movement on her right, in the bridge. And she quickly removed her head out of the way and back into the shaft room, a few moments before plasma rounds hit the wall on her left. She almost stumbled into Private Dare, but he managed to jump out of her way. "Keep an eye on the Floaters there!" She shouted and reached for her communications unit.

"Krenon! Where are you?" The voice of Sergeant in charge of Phi squad betrayed pain as it replied. "We found an alien on the chamber at the end of the corridor and had to assault it to dig him out. Bragg and Camay are already getting up and I'll join them in a second".

She thought of asking how bad his injuries were but if they were too debilitating he would by now have informed her. "We are directly facing you. There's company on the bridge. We are going to smoke them. Tell the ones with the electrical rods to get them ready". The Sergeant acknowledged the order and she turned to her own soldiers. It would be dangerous to try to take the aliens alive but High Command's orders had been very precise at that matter. She would still have preferred to simply throw some old fashioned grenades into the bridge and mop up any remaining aliens, but since they had no place where to go, the orders were to try to capture them.

Putting down her laser rifle, she took a concussion grenade and a laser pistol out of her belt, seeing Dare and Prune getting their stun rods out of their backpacks and holding them with both hands at the same time. The crude weapons were nothing more than a five feet pole with batteries inside and a twin pointed end. She considered the sanity of the order since the Floaters probably would try to charge and break free and the men would have to get at close range to be able to use the rods. But when the call came from Phi that they were ready at the other side she moved to open the door, with her pistol in one hand and the grenade on the other.

The machinery buried inside the gray metal door detected her motion and quickly went upwards. She waited to see if an alien was waiting right outside but she only saw the door directly in front of them also opening and Bragg standing close to it in the other room. They immediately brought their arms outside the openings and fired their laser weapons, without caring to aim and trying to keep the aliens' heads down and their gunfire out of the way.

One of the return fire plasma shots hit the wall close to her hand and the heat and pain on her hand almost made her drop the pistol but she grabbed it even with more strength, while crouching and throwing the grenade rolling across the floor to the middle of the bridge. The other X-Com troopers did the same and afterwards they all stepped back into the elevators rooms that led into the bridge.

The concussion weapons were originally designed to have as little destructive power as possible, with the power of the explosions instead being directed into creating a flash and noise that would blind and incapacitate any occupant of a room, being it alien or a terrorist. But the metal walls of the UFO only let pass small thumps, as the grenades detonated inside. Markovitch thought of using her motion scanner to check if any alien was still moving but she decided to not waste time on that. Opening the door again, she jumped inside the bridge and stood there, trying to look for targets in the middle of all the smoke.

The three X-Com troopers equipped with stun rods meanwhile moved passed her and she slowly moved forward, holding her hand in both hands. A figure suddenly rose up from the smoke to her right and she immediately moved her pistol's aim towards it. However, she refrained from shooting as she saw one of the X-Com troopers quickly move towards it and a zapping sound right afterwards as the metal poles on the top of the rod activated and sent a thousand volts current to the alien, incapacitating him.

But the soldier wasn't so lucky. A plasma shot hit him right afterwards on his back sending him sprawling into one of the walls. Markovitch immediately traced the direction of the shot and fired into that direction, without bothering to take aim. She saw a Floater standing by a pink table armed with a plasma rifle getting hit in the shoulder by one of her red laser shots. It felt on the ground, but it wasn't dead as it tried to reach for the rifle that was about a meter away from him. On a flash she moved over and kicked the weapon away from his reach. Then she looked at him and saw that the alien was also staring at her. She couldn't tell if the thing was afraid or if it had any feelings, for that matter. It didn't matter to her. Fixing her mouth on a evil smile, she just said "Hello asshole", before her leg went backwards to gain balance, and then afterwards on a kick to his head that made it unconscious.

October 21st, 1999

Mother One, Black Forest, Germany

Dr. Lejeune's excitement was patent as he started his presentation to the group of X-Com's top military and civilian leadership. It had taken them months of hard work but it had paid off. Standing on one of the base's firearm ranges inside one of the firing booths he turned to the rest of the twenty people who were standing in the room. "I'm more than pleased to announce that we have finally understood the firing mechanisms of the alien weapons and are able to rearm and even reproduce them". Grabbing an alien plasma rifle from a table close to him he hold it as if it was a toy on a kid's hands. "The whole question had to do with the way the energy released by Elerium could be controlled and why the weapons wouldn't fire at all after a while. Upon discovery of the anti-gravity field it generates and how to control those waves we took apart the alien weapons and discovered the control mechanisms used, now that we knew what to look for. However, one essential question remained? Why would the weapon still become useless after its capture? The tests showed that, after a while, the gravity fields would be completely out of alignment, preventing it from shooting and even make it extremely useless to the operator, since it the energy spent from the Elerium reaction could actually make the gun to explode in their hands. After some calculations that took us weeks we finally came up with the answer, and it was so obvious that we were actually stupidities at its simplicity: Earth".

That brought interrogative looks at everybody. Lejeune just smiled and continued: "Earth's gravitational field. These weapons must have been designed and built in space, where the gravitic force of a planet is less felt. But when operating in a body with gravity and in the case of Earth there are variations caused by the movement inside the planet's core, the alignment of the anti-gravity field is slowly affected by the gravitational force and after a while the weapon needs to be calibrated again. In fact it's a process so simple that we know recognize some of the artifacts retrieved from UFO crash sites to be tools specifically designed to it, allowing the aliens to do battlefield maintenance, which is needed after some days". 

"Excuse-me doctor, but why didn't think of that before? If I was their commander I would want that the scientists developed a way to improve the reliability of my weapons". The whole thing just didn't make sense to Illyuschenko. He was getting tiring of these briefings. Technology was doing marvelous things it seemed but it didn't matter if it had a practical use. Like the presentation he had seen the previous about the examination rooms that had been found in medium UFOs like the one in Alaska. 

"We don't know Commander. It would be logical to have a self-adjusting mechanism since they most likely operate in worlds with different gravitational pulls. But either they never considered it or there's an unknown reason behind it".

"Yes, yes, however want I need to know is: can we use those weapons from now on?"

Lejeune almost jumped backwards at the strength of Illyuschenko's. "Well…yes. We will be pulling the technical data into the Black Box and all the scientists will be able to have access to it and inform the armorers how to maintenance them".

"Very well, doctor, excellent work: Anything else?" Lejeune's eyes become suddenly bright and Illyuschenko feared that another hour of technical explanations were about to come. "That is the most admirable part, Commander. We immediately started to consider other applications for the power given by small Elerium engines, after seeing what the weapons could do and we came up with an idea which we think it will please you". He grabbed an Elerium clip from the table and inserted it into the plasma rifle, activating it afterwards. It was Illyuschenko's time to almost jump back as he questioned what did this young fool intended to do.

The scientist simply lifted the screen with his free hand covering the front of the booth and the cement target practice area slowly appeared. At the distance a human fire could be seen at twenty-five feet, but it wasn't a living thing. It looked more of some sort of light gray bipedal insect figure, with a torso that looked more of a football standing up. The head was circular and had two similarly shaped visors at the level of the eyes, one half the size from the other. A single antenna came out at the top pointing diagonally on one of the sides. Large shoulder pads and leg protections stood out, together with the armored boots and light blue metallic fingers that hanged limp. "That, ladies and gentlemen is a Type 25 personal armor, although we are calling it a 'power suit' and you will soon see why. And this" he hold the weapon to his shoulder and pointed it to the figure "is a plasma rifle". As he pressed the trigger in excitement, a green plasma beam quickly traveled from the barrel to the armor, leaving a burned image in everyone's retinas and a trace of ozone in the air. It hit the armor on its left chest, leaving a burnt mark. Illyuschenko looked amazed as when Lejeune pressed a button to get it clear that it seemed to have hold the weapon's power. When it was very close to the scientist he stopped and grabbed a cloth. He then used it to remove the carbon caused by the interaction of the plasma with the oxygen and nitrogen that had precipitated on the front of the armor, making the hit area gray again.

"It can stop plasma gunfire?" Illyuschenko immediately demanded in surprise. Lejeune shook his head sadly. "The frontal armor is the strongest and can deal with no problem with pistol or rifle fire, either laser or plasma. However with bigger stuff, like heavy plasmas or lasers we estimate that it has a fifty percent change of preventing it to do any damage to the soldier inside".

"Much better than the one we have right now. Why haven't you thought of this before?"

"We couldn't Commander. See, that armor uses Elerium to power itself. Otherwise it would take a great effort for the user to even lift an arm due to the weight of the alien alloys layers that compose it. Since Elerium generates the anti-gravity field we simply use it to lessen Earth's gravity, making it extremely light and maneuverable. And with the remaining power we have given it a powered targeting scope, including amplification and night vision and a personal tactical radio, dispensing with the need to carry that equipment separated". 

"We will be even better equipped than the aliens now?" Illyuschenko still couldn't believe it. "Well yes. The power suit gives the user the almost the same amount of armor carried by the Cyberdisks. But still I wouldn't recommend fighting one all by yourself since the most likely result would be that both of you would get killed".

"I want this armor immediately Dr. Lejeune. What do you need?"

"We should get enough pre-production models ready in a few weeks. Then we will only need to test it first in combat conditions to detect any flaws that might have escaped our attention".

"Get me enough of these to equip a couple of squads and you will get your evaluation. Anything else?" The scientist smiled. "Why yes. You haven't seen all we got ready here sir". He kept his grin as he went to pick another piece of equipment. 

December 1st, 1999

Military Base outside Beijing, People's Republic of China

Nothing in Primer Zhu's previous experiences in life had ever prepared him for this moment. Escorted by Major Chen, the commander of the X-Com base in China who now had changed back into his People's Liberation Army uniform, and Ching, his country's representative to the Council of Funding Nations, he was standing in the middle of a stand placed in the tarmac of the People's Liberation Army Air Force airfields. He sensed fear and apprehension from everyone else that stood also there waiting, from the members of the Party's Politburo to the military commanders. He knew that the rows of soldiers and sailors that formed the Honor Guard present at the occasion would also be feeling the same and he wished that there wouldn't be any problems.

Without bothering to look at Ching, he contemplated the blue skies, almost empty of clouds and asked: "Any further word from the Secretary General or the Council?" Ching almost jumped in fear, affected by the tension that seemed to be present everywhere but he quickly composed himself and replied. "The fool Bomaka is still trying to talk to you about our decision to leave the X-Com project".

Zhu made a quick smirk. "Pretty soon they will realize the reason yesterday's communication to them".

"We are going to be facing recriminations afterwards, sir. There's no way to tell where this can lead us into, either in the UN or in our bilateral relationships with the rest of the world's countries". Zhu now looked back at the man, who was wearing the official uniform of the Party as all the other civilians present. "Yes, we may just experience isolation, but it will be temporary. We have taken a big step here to place us in front of all others. But pretty soon they will understand their fallacies and follow our example". Ching was about to say anything else but a hard look from Zhu silenced him and both men continued to look at the horizon.

Two minutes before noon all of the men present started to see a shape quickly approaching them from the southeast. As it approached, the figure suddenly seemed to divide itself into three airborne objects, with a larger one in the center and two smaller ones escorting it. As the huge UFO came closer to the runway, all the men took deep breaths of admiration and fear. Zhu also felt himself overwhelmed by the presence of the gray alien craft that the power it imposed on all of them. 

It landed some fifty meters away from the place where they were standing, with its four massive metal legs making a barely audible thump as they hit the concrete. The machine had a circular shape and on the bottom of it there was a fifth leg standing on its middle. The two other UFOs had also landed on the sides of the larger craft. Each had a hat form, with a higher section that came up on the middle of the craft. And the extremities had a twin set of large doors, which quickly opened in a hissing sound.

When the aliens started to come out of the opened hatches Zhu watched them in curiosity. He had seen pictures of dead and live specimens that had been captured by X-Com, but the apparent fragility of the Sectoids still filled him with admiration. And also with a primal fear. He watched as squads of aliens started to come out, looking at their frail lean bodies. They skin was as eelish as he had seen in the photographs and videotapes, reminding him of an octopus or squid, an impression even more reinforced by the large lidless black bulges that were their eyes.

Looking at Chen, the leader of the PCC saw that the man was too damn nervous, looking in fear at them and trying to keep his hands still. He hoped for the sake of them all that he wouldn't to anything stupid on their first direct contact with the aliens. Too much was at stake here, at they couldn't risk throwing away months of indirect communications, using the hybrids that were alien agents operating on Earth. All live ammunition had been forbidden upon his command to take away any risk of a confrontation, but still there might be problems.

Chen hadn't agreed with that measure, but his word didn't have any weight since his military skills were minimal. He was nothing more than a political officer, sent by the Party so that they could have a direct control over the Chinese X-Com team. While he had performed that part satisfactory, his men still hadn't managed to bring down any UFO or perform any ground assault in eleven months of operation. Oh well, it didn't had any importance, Zhu considered, since we will gain everything we need now. 

The Sectoids had assembled into parade formation, with twin lines on each side of the larger UFO. They were sporting their weapons but they were holding them to their shoulders, ready for inspection. Zhu suddenly felt a fear of betrayal but he dismissed it as the central leg of the larger UFO suddenly opened itself and three unarmed Sectoids came out. Moving forward, he went to greet China's new allies. 

December 3rd, 1999

Johnson Space Center, Houston, Texas, US

The personnel manning the Mars Polar Lander Mission Control Center were more than joyful. The probe had been launched from Earth at the beginning of the year and had finally reached its destination, the fourth planet in the Sun's orbit. This was another probe of a series of new unmanned space vehicles that would be launched or were in the process of heading towards the Red planet to make a full survey of it. Mars Polar Lander would touch down at the planet's south polar cap and search for water ice with a robotic arm while also performing other scientific experiments. 

The deceleration necessary to enter Mars' orbit was on its final steps and so far everything on the probe's journey had been close to perfect, with all the instruments correctly working. But the control crew still waited in anticipation after the failure of Mars Climate Observer two months ago. That probe was aimed to place itself on Mars' orbit and observe the planet's climate, known to have fierce sandstorms that would cover whole continents. However all contact had been lost upon arrival and NASA was still trying to figure out what had happened. 

Meanwhile, the technicians could only observe the image of Mars projected on the screens and hope. The Polar Lander had a camera installed that was recording the flight, taking ever-closer pictures of Mars and transmitting them back to Mission Control. Even though they were more than ten minutes old due to the time it took them to travel at light speed back to Earth it gave all the individuals in the room the sight of the approach to a different planet, never stepped on by Man, even after thousands of the ever approaching globe.

The senior NASA officer on watch was just contemplating Mars again on one of the consoles when the image suddenly disappeared. And at the same time in the room every technician controlling every aspect of the mission suddenly seemed surprised.

"What is that? Did the camera go offline?" The technician went into checking the camera's status when suddenly the headpiece that the senior officer wore started speaking. "We lost all communications with the probe. All telemetry, everything"

"This just can't happen again! Try to see if the Lander responds any of our commands through the alternate set. Any idea of what might have happened?"

"No idea. And if the probe doesn't respond in less than twenty minutes I doubt we will ever know for sure".

December 4th, 1999

Area 51, Nevada, US

Walking into one of the base's huge surface hangars, Johnson knew that he needed to be able to approach the subject on a soft way. China's defection to the aliens had brought all kind of questions and rumors among the men and women under his command and he needed not only to clarify everything but also to make sure that he had the situation controlled. Worse yet had been Chen's decision to follow his countries orders, effectively turning the X-Com base over China. Not for the loss of men and material it represented but by setting a dangerous precedent for the future. Technically all X-Com bases and material were property leased or supplied to the UN for the duration of the conflict. Only X-Com's High Command could return them back, a decision that had to be confirmed by the General Secretary. But the decision of the Chinese team commander had shown that things weren't so simple. Any attack done by a country on a X-Com base would be considered an act of war but the situation didn't seem to apply on this case. The fact that every X-Com command was manned by personnel belonging to that country or continent rose all sort of questions if the same thing could happen again but in this time on the US or Russia. And a reshuffling of the troops would only worsen the situation, bringing down operational effectiveness and a drop on morale. 

It was a tough question for everyone he knew. Even the high-ranking officer's conference he had held a couple of hours ago had shown that many of the men and women were having difficulties dealing with the situation. But it also had proven the value of something they had acquired on the battlefield and that was what had motivated their decision, knowing that the enlisted ranks were feeling the same way.

As Johnson went up the wood stand that had been placed in front of the more than a thousand of men and women that now composed the operation, all of the conversation suddenly came to a halt and everyone got seated. He stopped right in front, with Markovitch, Patterson and all the officers above Captain standing behind him, together with Dr. Mantell, who had spoken for the scientific and engineering community. Taking a deep breath he raised his voice to be hear all over the hangar. 

"Good afternoon to you all. I trust that base rumor has already told you the news about China. I'm sorry to confirm the news. Two days ago the UN Secretary General received a letter from the Chairman of the People's Republic of China stating their decision to back out of the X-Com project due to their dissatisfaction with the unit. Major Chen was immediately contacted by High Command and his response was that he would be turning his men and the base back to Chinese control, not recognizing Commander Illyuschenko's authority anymore refusing to follow any of his orders. 

But that's not the worst. At the same day one the Russians and the Japanese tracked several large UFOs heading towards China. Later photographic reconnaissance showed that the craft had landed in several of China's top military installations. Intelligence has determined that the Chinese must have struck some sort of pact with the aliens. I know what's going on everyone's mind here: what if the same happened to the US?" Some of the personnel moved uncomfortably on the chairs, others simply turned their faces away.

"For the past two days all of the officers you see here have deal with that same question, trying to come up with a solution to it. This morning we gathered and came up with several answers. Number one, we can't expect nothing more from the aliens than either a quick or a painful death". Several of the veterans nodded in reply as he expected. "Number two, we trust President's Winston decisions and we know that he would never sell the US to the aliens". That also brought some approving nods although less and some of the soldiers actually chaffed at it.

That didn't bother Johnson. More important would be the message he would try to send next. "From some of your reactions I can see that Winston doesn't quite correspond to your expectations or your political party. But that's normal, since we like in a democracy and you have the right to publicly express your opinions. However, no matter to which side you lean on, there's one thing we all must take into account. We have all seen what the aliens are up to. To dominate Earth by whatever means necessary for them own uses. And many lives have been lost already to them and many more will be necessary. And the moment our elected officials decide to betray our country by signing an agreement with the aliens is the moment where we should question their authority". 

The last sentence brought a deep silence to the room. "That is not betrayal. That is fulfilling the vow you have taken as you all entered military service on which you swore to protect the US Constitution. And if the aliens were free to operate over our country we all know what would happen: more abductions and the slaughtering of innocent citizens. We have the moral right to defend them, even from misguided actions from our government. Therefore I will clearly state here and now that I will never turn this base back to US control in case we sign a pact with the aliens!"

Johnson expected some reaction to his words but none came. Instead all the seated men and women seemed to be considering his speech. "However if your conscience dictates you to choose otherwise you are free to do so. Major Patterson will take care of any requests for transfer to the Appalachian base or back into the regular military if you choose so. But our decision remains. After seeing what they did in Los Angeles and Siberia I won't ever accept entering an agreement with the aliens. This is our planet, not theirs!" Johnson was already starting to feel exhausted from the entire speech. "If anyone desires to speak out please do so. If not at the moment, please feel free to ask an interview with me or any other senior officer". He waited for a few seconds but only silence greeted him. "Very well. For the time being we shall resume our activities". He took a step back and Sergeant Hopkins, after one second shouted. "Attention!" Everyone in the room stood straight and saluted. All the officers replied the greeting and Hopkins dismissed the ranks, with the troopers and scientists slowly getting out of the hangar in pairs or alone.

The Colonel turned to Hopkins as he was going by him and asked: "What do you think Elias?" The Afro-American stopped on his tracks and thought for a second before replying. "I think you gave them all enough to think Colonel. But what you said felt true to me and I believe the majority of them will feel the same. Still it gets disturbing of thinking of the consequences of such a possible action, sir".

That didn't add much but it would have to do for now, Johnson decided. "Thanks Sarge and do me a favor? Keep an eye on what the men are talking about and let me know, will you?"

Hopkins nodded. "Sure, sir". 

December 19th, 1999

Mother One, Black Forest, Germany

As soon as the xenobiologists and intelligence officers had finished questioning the Floater leader captured near Seattle they had sent immediately the results back to Mother One, without even reporting to Johnson. Since then every senior officer back at the Nevada base had been waiting for two long days in anticipation to hear something from High Command. Until now.

Yesterday he had been ordered to report back to HQ for strategic discussions. His queries with Commander Illyuschenko about the reason behind had been dismissed with a simple comment: "Get here Colonel, you will soon know more than you have asked for". That had only raised even higher his level of tension and fear, causing him to stay unable to sleep through the whole transoceanic flight. And when the Skyranger took off again after picking him up at Frankfurt International Airport he was told by one of the ground crew that it was on its way to pick another officer.

Five hours later, all eight X-Com regional commanders were present and seated at the same room, together with the leaders of the Intelligence and Scientific branches and Commander Illyuschenko, reminding Johnson of a similar meeting that had happened close to a year ago. How far things have evolved he considered looking at the dark uniformed men. Chen was gone now, after having decided to stay with China. Yamashita's face had an ugly scar on a cheek giving him a dreadful look. Santos, the jovial Brazilian officer had been killed on the first encounter with the aliens of the newly formed South American team. And others have changed inside, he concluded, before removing those thoughts as Illyuschenko rose from his place on the circular table and started to speak, not without taking a pause first.

"To begin let me apologize to you behind removed from your men. It's also against my better judgment for us all to be together, but recent developments have dictated the need that we redefine our global strategy in dealing with the aliens. As you all know we have captured one of their higher ranks and we have finished its interrogation. We have used other means to confirm the results and this is what we got". The screen behind him lit up and Dr. Chevereux and Colonel Robinson, X-Com's Intelligence Director turned around on his sides to take a better view. 

A red globe suddenly filled the screen, hanging against a star filled background and marked with patches of white on its poles. Darker sections could be seen more close to the equator, marking the effects of a sandstorm or ancient basins. Everyone in the room knew immediately what he was looking at: the planet Mars. "Apparently the aliens are not in the Moon as the intelligence services of Earth's countries thought since our satellite is a perfect base of operations. Based on the answers given by the alien, we have been able to determine that they have their manufacturing and cloning operations on a hidden base on the Red Planet. From there they are conducting their take-over of Earth, using the Moon only as a staging point to launch their attacks. Furthermore, we have received confirmation of the alien presence in the planet by other means". He nodded to Dr. Chevereux, who on his turn got up.

"On the seventh of this month, NASA's Mars Polar Lander was about to reach the planet when all communication was suddenly cut off between the probe and mission control. They have attributed it to some sort of technical error, but we suspect something else. That wasn't the first probe ever to be lost upon arrival at Mars, which further enhanced our suspicions. NASA had already lost another probe this year and another seven years back, all upon reaching the Planet. But the real confirmation came from an effort made by the Soviets back in 1989 with the Phobos probes. Phobos One was lost on the journey but its twin, Phobos Two, managed to reach Mars' orbit and stay there for two months transmitting images and information before it also went off the air. Communication problems were advanced to the rest of the world and everyone believed the story, although the data beamed back brought some peculiar images like this one." A section of the planet became amplified and it was replaced with an old black and white image, showing the occasional fuzziness of old television. It showed an ellipsal shadow on the surface of the planet, hanging there for some seconds before the whole image was replaced with black. "First it was thought that the shape was Phobos, a captured asteroid that is one of Mars satellites. However the shape doesn't correspond to the known features of Phobos, especially since it's too smooth on the edges. That wouldn't meant much, except that after the dissolution of the Soviet Union a defector appeared and presented the last image, taken after the one we just saw, that the probe broadcasted back to Earth that the Soviets deliberately refused to disclose. And here it is". A cigar-shaped figure appeared on the middle of the screen, with Phobos standing behind it. "That is not an asteroid, gentlemen. And we have determined that it was the object creating the shadow on the planet's surface, based on the shadow. However, that means that it has close to twenty kilometers in length and one in diameter, making it the largest artificial object to ever be seen on this star system. And for all we know, this alien mothership could still be around".

The shit just hit the fan, Johnson told himself, as he imagined one of those beasts moving over Earth and laying destruction at his path. "This picture was taken in 89. So far our probes and telescopes haven't picked it up again, either on Mars or on the vicinity of Earth. Most likely it is the way they used to move between the stars since the captured craft doesn't have any device that would allow them to travel through speeds faster than light. And maybe now it's back at the aliens home world, we simply don't know". Dr. Chevereux shook its head.

Colonel Robinson, the British put in charge of the Intelligence operations took the cue and added: "In any case, the aliens hadn't bothered to use it so far, for our sake. Or maybe it's hidden on Mars, ready to take care of any intruder in the area. However we need to find out what is going on that planet".

Yamashita turned to Dr. Chevereux and asked: "Dr., if I recall the reports correctly there was a mention of possible breakthroughs in replicating the systems that allow the aliens to fly their aircraft. Would it be possible to built one to take us to Mars?"

The scientist shook his head again and replied: "It will take us many months to even try to achieve the feat of actually building one UFO. And most likely the trip would take even a longer time, not to mention the fact that the spacecraft would need to be fully equipped and armed to deal with whatever defenses the aliens have around".

"Furthermore, we don't have a precise target. But there's a possibility". Illyuschenko added and turned to the doctor for him to continue. "Please explain to them".

Typing a command, the scientist replaced the image behind him with another one, of a Sectoid, Floater and a Snakemen standing up. "We had already determined of the existence of a caste system inside the Sectoid Hierarchy, with several levels, each tasked with a different role. This societal organization also seemed to apply to the other species of aliens encountered, but the question remained of whom was in charge of it all. The Sectoids mental powers seemed to make them our prime suspects but now we have reason to believe that the 'Starspawn', as they all call themselves, has a head, a queen-like figure that directs them all. And this alien is ordering the whole invasion from Mars". An interrogation mark appeared over the three aliens. 

Didn't Billings mention something about hearing the voice of the Starspawn, Johnson remembered, quickly adding: "Mental powers?" Chevereux looked at him in curiosity, together with the rest of the officers in the room. "Just guessing", he quickly added.

"And a good guess, Colonel, although there are other probabilities. We don't know what this queen is, if it is a living thing or a computer and how it communicates with the alien forces."

"But if we kill it, will we stop the invasion?" Colonel Boronin demanded out of a sudden. The scientist thought for a second and replied: "Yes. If we eliminate the head of the society the rest of the body should die".

"Then we need to get to bloody Mars as soon as possible!" Colonel MacTaggert's voice sounded like thunder in the middle of the room. "Built one of your gimmicks to take us there!"

"That is not possible yet!" The scientist countermanded as a rain of questions coming from all the regional commanders suddenly overwhelmed him, filling the room with chaos.

"Enough!" Illyuschenko's voice was overheard over the others, causing everyone to shut down. "I share of all of your goals: we must hit the aliens hard and stop this invasion! However rash action won't help us here! There are other things to consider!"

"Sir, if we wait too long we might loose an opportunity here! The aliens have made three terror attacks in two months! If this keeps escalating we might find ourselves out of resources to contain them and keep this force fighting!" Johnson couldn't believe the words but they came naturally.

"Colonel, sit down and listen!" Only then did Johnson notice that he was the only one still standing up. He got down on his seat and waited. "Have you all forgotten to see what it would mean if we failed on such an attempt? Do you think the aliens would sit idly knowing that we had discovered their base of operations? And what if they decided to throw away finesse and use something like that flying monster on us?!" The threat of the alien mothership loomed at everyone in the room.

"Believe me, gentlemen, we are going to Mars and I intend to be on the spaceship that bring us there, but first we need to know more about their little operation over there. Colonel Robinson, please pick up from here and this time all of you better listen first". Dr. Chevereux, who seemed to be waiting with almost no patience left, let go of a deep breath before sitting. Robinson got up, seeming to be completely untouched by the previous discussion and spoke. 

"Besides the technical aspects, there are a couple of things we need to know before attempting such a mission: where exactly is the base located and what is exactly this brain. The interrogation of the captured leader failed to give us such information, most likely because of the fact that the alien wasn't required to know such things. But in the middle of all their numbers there's got to be one that knows the information we require. What we need to do is dig him out and question him".

"You can't just wait and expect him to drop out of the skies, bloody literally speaking". Robinson turned to MacTaggert, who had spoken the comment. "Yes you can. Someone mentioned before that the aliens are increasing their actions. That means that we should face more of their higher-ranking officers, thus giving us more chances of capturing one of them. And with the new power suit armor and plasma weapons we are more than capable of handling them on the ground".

Until something new on their part comes up, Johnson immediately told himself. "That won't last, Mr. Robinson. We can't make assumptions about the aliens. Usually when we do we find out about our mistakes when we start receiving the dead bodies of our troopers on the base morgue".

"And we will respond to them, Colonel. Patience is the key here. We now have a solution for this whole thing, as crazy as it might seem. But it will take time and we can only hope that we are able to hang out that long".

"In that case, we should present this evidence to the Council of Funding Nations and ask for more funding or even their technological help. It would speed up things a bit, wouldn't it?" Illyuschenko's reply was completely unexpected. "No!"

As the eyes of everyone in the room turned towards him, he started to explain. "China's defection has shown us that we might have our position compromised in the future. There's little reason to doubt that it will happen again with another country, and if it does I don't want that the aliens know through them about our suspicions over Mars. That would be as disastrous as making a hasty attempt at destroying their base. Therefore, this information is to stay limited to this room!" Everyone looked at him, some in shock, others surprised.

Robinson added: "Commander Illyuschenko and I have discussed this in detail. Not even the troops might know about this until the time they are about to board the ship to go to Mars. This is Earth's hidden hope, gentlemen. We have to protect it at all costs". That brought a death silence in the room, but Johnson actually felt that there might be a chance now.

"I trust you all, gentlemen to keep this secret. You are one of the finest fighting units I've had the honor to lead and I have received personal assurances from all of you after China's defection to continue fighting the aliens. When you go back to your bases, it will be up to up to share some of this hope to your men someway, although you may never mention Mars to them, no matter how they deserve it". 

Looking around the room, he waited for any further questions and finding none, Illyuschenko continued. "If there's aren't any more questions now about this, we shall proceed into discussing operational deployment and how we develop a detection network completely independent of any country. I want to know everything the aliens do on this planet".

December 26th, 1999

Papoose Lake, Nevada, US

The sound and the headlights of the Hummer jeep warned Johnson of its presence while it was still leaving the Groom Lake facility. He was standing on the top of one of the hills that separated both dry lakes after having decided to go outside and have some fresh air. The desert air was very cold and dry, but the almost full Moon was hanging up in the sky, painting the features of the terrain on its white light. Seated close to his jeep he wished that there the Moon light wouldn't be there, so that he could watch more of the stars that filled the horizon. Since Area 51 was literally on the middle of nothing and there was a limited blackout, there was almost no artificial light, making it a prime spot for stargazing. Or to take a look at Mars, who appeared as a blinking red over the desert. The Romans had feared the planet for the menacing color it had, transforming it into their god of war, accompanied by his servants, Phobos and Deimos, Fear and Terror, the names given to its natural satellites later on by astronomers. There seemed to be a reason for them to be fearful of the planet after all, Johnson thought, noticing that the brightest light besides the Moon in Earth's sky, the planet Venus, was also present. He wondered what would be stepping for the first time on a new planet, if they ever managed to go to Mars. That would surely turn into a major Hollywood movie a couple of years later. If Earth survived until then. 

The sound of tracks suddenly was heard and Johnson thought he could see one of the new Heavy Weapons Platforms as it automatically went through it's role of perimeter security, looking for possible intruders in the restricted area. He hadn't decided how to use the mechanical beasts in combat. They were too noisy and occupied precious space inside the Skyrangers, so he had assigned them to Theta Company, the base security force. Speaking of which, he looked to his left side to check the construction of the new laser defense system. It had been decided to build a weapon similar to the one destroyed by the aliens in Siberia to give some protection to the base. If any hostile craft approached it could be used to destroy the intruders. 

Looking down at the gravel path he saw that the Hummer was heading his way to the top of the hill and he wondered what was going on. He reached for his radio to make sure it was working, in case Major Prescott was trying to contact him, but found it perfectly in order. His curiosity was finally satisfied as the jeep stopped right next to his own and Captain Markovitch stepped out, wearing a gray parka over her black X-Com jumpsuit. "They told me at base that you had decided to take a stroll and I thought I could use one myself, unless you prefer to be alone". 

He smiled to her and asked: "I'd tell you to pull up a chair, but there's none. How was Christmas back home?"

Markovitch sat and replied. "Great. I think my dad has too much free time now that he's retired from the Army and he's driving my mother nuts occasionally, but otherwise they are fine and the same with my sister, who is on her second kid. They send you their greetings". Johnson started to imagine the sixty year old now retired Army sergeant into retirement but he just gave up and grinned. "Tell them thanks". 

"Sure. I've brought you a gift". She took a bottle of scotch out of one of her long parka pockets and made a devilish smile. "Technically it's against regulations drinking alcohol outside the mess halls but in this case I thought you might open an exception".

"Ha! Very well". He took the bottle from her hand, opened it and took a gulp of the amber liquor, passing it back to her afterwards. She did the same and asked afterwards: "What happened back in Germany?"

He turned stiff, remembering Illyuschenko's warning and gave the formal reply. "What do you mean? We were there to discuss the deployment of more bases and new operational methods".

"Don't give me that Erwin. After China's defection the moral at the base took a deep dive. But in the weeks since you came back from Mother One you are acting exactly the opposite, encouraging everyone around. There's something High Command isn't telling us". As she spoke he noticed that her eyes were constantly probing, looking for some sort of emotional response to her words. "Maybe there is Sheila, but this isn't the first time I have to keep something a secret until the right moment to reveal it. I can only tell you that one day in the future you will know about it".

"I hope it doesn't have anything to do with the latest base gossip". Johnson frowned. What was she talking about? "Excuse me?" 

"You know a grunt's mind. When they feel that their commanding officers know something more they get curious about it. I've heard a lot of weird stories from the men in my squad from since I came here, some good, some bad. The latest one and your past days' attitude must have reinforced it more is about the Enforcer. Have you heard that one?"

"The Enforcer? What the hell is that?"

"Supposedly, back when we were in deep financial problems, one of our scientists got sacked and he decided to develop his own research to deal with the aliens. And the result was a seven feet, armored, human shaped robot capable of waging its own war with the aliens". 

"Great! Here comes the Rambo robot to the rescue!" Both of them laughed. "Who in Earth would come up with something as absurd as that?"

"Hey, supposedly he helped the Far East team in South Korea during the alien's terrorist attack two months ago. The battle records still show that Yamashita's men were close to being overwhelmed by Cryssalids and they still managed to turn around events".

"Yamashita's men decided to make a suicidal attack and fought hand to hand with them using their samurai swords. That is something even more unbelievable".

She paused and spoke, her voice clearing altered to show that her words had a hidden meaning. "Well, you won't believe what _other rumors I've heard. I've had to order it out of one of my men and I think he was pissing on his pants at that moment"._

Johnson stared directly at her. "What do you mean?" She met his stare and continued. "Apparently there's a rumor that we have something together going on" He looked at her in disbelief but she simply stayed there, the Moon lighting every trace on her face. "Are we Erwin?"

He made a weak smile. "You already knew the answer before you asked". She moved a little closer. "I can't remember. Why don't you came here and tell me again?" He did and the second before their lips touched a thought flashed by his mind, only to quickly disappear as a feeling of extasis suddenly engulfed all his attention. Fuck Mars. Let's go to Venus instead. 

_André Galvão, 2001_


	17. Rocky Road

X-Com – The Unknown Menace

Chapter Sixteen – Rocky Road

I was writing the beginning of this chapter when the tragedy of September 11th occurred, and it turned out to be a most disturbing coincidence, as you will read. This chapter is dedicated to all the victims of the attacks.

March 14th, 2000

New York City, US

The Big Apple laid gutted by a mayhem of fire and terror. UFOs of different sizes were airborne, performing attack runs with their plasma weapons taking down buildings and any human vehicle that dared to move. One of the overhead craft targeted an attack helicopter that was approaching the area and destroyed it with a single blast, the wreckage falling down on the street into several parked cars and causing a second explosion. The soldiers and policemen present did their best to try to get into cover but several were hit by the shock wave and the flames of the explosion and their bodies were thrown away like bloody rag dolls. The others tried to contain the advance of the aliens, mounting a disorganized resistance from wherever they could get cover and filling the air with bullets. But when the aliens pressed their attack, the sheer size of their firepower sent many of the human defenders either to their deaths or in a full retreat. 

Markovitch watched them leave in dismay but then she looked up from the window and saw that the whole sky was dark. She wondered how could it be, if it was of all the smoke coming from the burnt parts of the city but he felt it terrifyingly natural. The aliens finally approached her position and she went for her laser pistol but she found that it wasn't there. Only then did she noticed that she was among civilians, all terrified and standing also in the ruined dinner where she was, in no doubt trying to get some protection from the battle. A sound turned her attention again to the outside. A group of orange and brown Snakemen had just come to the front of the window, holding their plasma weapons at their waist and pointing them to the humans inside.

One man made a movement, Markovitch couldn't tell if he was trying to escape or just plea for mercy. It didn't matter as the aliens cut him down a second afterwards with a couple of green blasts. Reluctantly she put her arms behind her head as the Snakemen made hissing sounds with their stilted tongues and beckoned them to come outside with their weapons. Everyone else also saw that resistance was futile and did the same. 

The group of humans slowly started to come out, some crying, others simply in shock. When Markovitch stepped outside he immediately noticed that one of the UFOs had landed on the middle of the street and that Sectoids were close to it, looking like they were in command of the aliens operations. But amongst them she could also see the silouette of a tall figure, wrapped in some sort of hooded garment that obscured the alien's appearance. A sound of metal being bent and snapping suddenly distracted her attention, followed by the noise of steel, glass and concrete hitting the ground from a distance. She turned to look out to the source of the noise. It didn't take her that much to notice what had happened. Looking at the direction of the World Trade Center towers, she saw that one was completely gone and the other one didn't have any more its half top, with only a scar of crushed steel and concrete at its top, releasing smoke as if it was nothing more than a gigantic chimney.

Cyberdisks could also be seen on the air, patrolling the area and taking care of the last remains of human resistance. And Chryssalids. One of them approached the group, which now the aliens had taken into organizing into a compact line. The dark gray oily figure came close to a young woman and seemed to be looking at her with interest, its antennae on its head swirling into her direction. Markovitch started coughing, tasting a horrible stench in the air that burned her lungs but trying to keep her eyes on the alien.

Still unable to stop coughing because of the vicious atmosphere, the X-Com Captain looked in horror as it she just saw the woman lurching backwards out of a sudden. All the other humans backed away immediately in fear. The woman felt on the ground, in the middle of all the broken glass that littered the avenue and started having spasms as if she was on the middle of an epileptic seizure. Markovitch immediately knew what was happening, but found out that she didn't couldn't do anything, just stare at the impregnation like the rest of the assembled humans. She turned away her head to not to look at the birthing of the Chryssalid and looked at a man standing to her. Immediately, she preferred that she hadn't looked at him. The face in front of her was deformed, with strange bumps covering his forehead, cheeks and jaw, as if someone had implanted marbles underneath his skin. Worse, in some spots there were large wounds, some still red, others already starting to scar. The man opened his twisted mouth, where several teeth were missing and the other ones completely out of line. But instead of any words, he only managed to say guttural sounds. She looked around to see if any one else was noticing. The other people around were even worse. A small child with only patches of hair on his skull, and a deformation that covered the entire right size of his face with twisted skin and muscle, giving him a monstrous look. Another man with a bent posture and a third arm coming out of his back through a hole on his shirt. And others with genetic deformations even worse stood all around her. But the greatest shock came as she looked to a piece of broken glass that was still standing in the broken front of the restaurant. She recognized the short hair and the short but bulky figure that belonged to her. But the eyes were different and only then did she noticed the reason why her vision was so perfect, so accurate, even in the middle of all the darkness in the sky and in the streets, whose lights had long ceased working. Instead of the hazelnut that she had grown used to every since she was a child, the iris were violet and they had an Oriental shape, too angular. "No, no, no", she started shaking and mumbling, until a voice coming from everywhere around her suddenly engulfed all her thoughts, taking her conscience away and throwing her into a completely new reality.

"Hey, hey. It's OK". Johnson's voice came from behind her and she felt his hand on her back. "It was just a dream". Perception of Johnson's quarters came to her immediately and it brought her a great feeling of relief. She found herself seated on the bed with him standing beside her. She dropped her head to his chest immediately and he started caressing her hair. "Must have been a nasty one", he asked. Images of Earth's destruction came to her mind. She closed her eyes and nudged closer: "Yeah, the bad guys won again".

He replied, half-jokingly. "In their dreams". She stood silent and he added: "You sure you don't want to see the base psychiatric to check out those dreams? Everyone else has been through a lot of action recently". Markovitch got her head up and moved to the empty side of the bed. "Already did yesterday. Told me that they could do a whole battery of medical exams, X-rays, cat scans and so on. But I doubt it would do any good so I told him no thanks."

"Still you gotta do something about those dreams. Maybe they could get you some pills or something." She turned to see him and gave a depreciating look. "No thanks. I won't get myself killed in combat because I was too stoned from the pills and made a mistake." She got out of the bed and Johnson heard her moving around, occasionally bumping into a chair or the bed. 

He turned on the light and saw that she had started to collect her clothes from the places where they had landed in his quarters. "What are you doing? Come back to bed. It's still too damn early to get up." She didn't bother to look at him while answering. "I've had enough sleep already. Besides, better to leave now while there's almost no one going around in the corridors that can see me getting out of the commander's quarters." 

He smiled, the tips of his mouth becoming clearly accentuated. "It wouldn't add much to the rumor mill already going around in the base, according to Prescott and Hopkins. Call it benefit of rank". Finishing putting on her bra, she grabbed the upper part of her jumpsuit. "Rank benefits my ass. We are pulling this off because you are the big shot around here. If Commander Illyuschenko or the Council knew about it they wouldn't be pleased."

"Hey, you're the one who nearly got us caught once some years ago. Remember when that General nearly caught us on his office? That was your idea."

"Which you didn't raise too many objections when I proposed it". 

"Whatever! The whole point is that we are being too overconfident here. Things are not what we expect of them to be". Done dressing her uniform, Markovitch jumped out of bed and went to the mirror, while Johnson tried to grab her arm and keep her there. 

"Hey, things have cooled down a bit. And the new equipment has sure brought up morale in the last months. This war can last for God knows how long and we might as well take the time to recover a bit". He gave up trying to stop her and sat also on the bed. 

"Everyone is sporting their new plasma weapons as if they were new toys to play with. Pretty soon the troops will feel that they are invincible and start performing some dangerous shit. And us, the officers who are supposed to lead them, are too dumb to notice that or that something is missing here because we are concerned more about getting into each other's quarters".

She started to head out the door and stopped briefly while Johnson countered: "What's your point Sheila?" She turned around and replied: "I don't know, but we are missing something here and I don't like it, whatever it might be". Afterwards she opened the door and left, leaving a dumbstruck Johnson in the room behind. 

During the day he saw her a couple of times but never managed to find an excuse to talk to her. The new automated tanks had turned out with a major software bug in last day's exercise, which had nearly turned into a disaster, as one of the vehicles suddenly started to fire laser rounds from its turret into the direction of a nearby X-Com squad. Only the new power armour had saved the life of one of the troopers as it caught a full laser blast on his chest.

March 18th, 2000

Appallachian Mountains, West Virginia, US

As Williams looked at Davis he wondered for how much he could keep up with the man's pace. Both of them had "accidentally" bumped into one another as they were both doing a morning jogging at the base perimeter. The ex-FBI sub director, now working for X-Com's Intelligence Bureau had suggested the meeting when one of his messages mentioned that he was about to make a regular inspection to the East Coast base. The idea of the jogging was also meant to distract any suspicions from the meeting. It would natural for both men to talk together, since they had been working in the same team before, but they would have to do it in a way that wouldn't allow for eavesdropping.

They kept running until they finally reached a heavily forested area and stopped in a clearing in the middle of the trees and bushes, both panting. "Very good for a desk jock" Davis remarked, starting to do some calisthenics. "Hiding secrets can be quite a workout", Williams replied.

Davis stopped for a moment, trying to detect anyone that could be hidden among the forest for a moment. Afterwards he added: "Yeah and quite a physical burden it can be. It might even kill you".

Williams opened his eyes at the other man as he reached into the strap bag he was wearing to carry his Discman and remove a couple of photos. As he took them from Davis's hands and watched him he saw that they were pictures taken from a dead body at a morgue, showing the face white male on his thirties severely mangled. Williams gave them back, disgusted at what he had seen. "Anyone I should knew?"

"Not really. This is the latest Mr. Sam Owens, which two months ago was working for DARPA and had a SAP clearance". Williams recognized both acronyms. The DARPA was the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency responsible for conducting some of the most secret research into new technologies and hardware. And the Special Access Program was the security classification given to anyone working in the 'black budget' projects. Technically it was one of the highest clearances an individual could get and the number of existing SAPs was an even better guarded secret, only known to a handful of individuals. "What happened to him?"

"The emergency services dug his body out of his car, which had crashed into a pole and killed him in the process. The autopsy showed that he was completely drunk and wasn't even wearing a seatbelt".

"A damn tragedy, it seems. Why do you think this man is important?"

"I had a hunch. After Smith's affair at Area 51 was known it came to me that whomever was running Smith would cover their tracks after the whole thing had cooled down. So I managed to make some searches in the DoD's about any recent deaths of anyone with a high security clearance. Mr. Owen here had a temporary assignment to Smith's command four years ago. The officer responsible for the attribution of his security clearance called him: 'a very educated and highly motivated individual, with no questionable flaws anywhere on his background'. He had a wife and two kids and a nice house by the beach in California. Then he kills himself for no apparent reason".

"There could be a lot of reasons. Who knows? Maybe the guy had some dark secret who was about to be discovered or something".

"Only that Mr. Owens doesn't exist". At the look of bewilderment on Williams' face he continued. "This whole thing stank to me, so I started making phone calls to check out the references on his files. Before joining DARPA he worked for Lockheed and although there are mention of him on his records no one there remembers him. His wife and kids have suddenly disappeared and there isn't a proof that they ever lived".

"Davis, that doesn't say that he was one of them. It doesn't prove anything".

"What if I tell you that two other men, all having possessed high-security clearances in their lives had been found also killed by the local authorities but dismissed as suicide? And there's something lacking on their backgrounds also".

"And they also had temporary assignments to Area 51?" Williams was starting to see something fishy also in the whole story. "But where does that lead us into? Since they are dead there's nothing we can know now from them".

Davis face turned cold. "Now we know where to look at. There might be more of them still infiltrated that have been considered as trustworthy so far. All we need to know is who had temporary or permanent duty at Nevada and start sorting out through them. And that's where I need your help. I can't have access to SAP personnel lists".

"Are you nuts Davis? I can't even have access to that information also, not to mention releasing it and making a breach on security procedures. If it were discovered I would be living the rest of my days in total isolation on a federal penitentiary".

"I know, I spent my time on the Bureau chasing guys like you". He made a cold smile. Williams answered with an icy stare and he turned back in his normal composure. "But the truth is that my investigations are at a dead-end right now. Unless you get that list we can as well forget the whole matter".

Williams took some deep breaths before answering. "You will get what you need".

"Fair enough to me". He started moving his legs. "Shall we get back?"

March 21st, 2000

Area 51, Nevada, US

Beep. The alarm of the base intercom system woke up Johnson in the middle of the night. He immediately tried to get awake while his arm moved to the small table close to the bed and turned the communications button on. At his side he sensed Markovitch moving while he acknowledged the call: "Johnson, what's up?"

A young voice that he couldn't place answered him. "Err, Colonel, National Command Authority just sent a distress signal calling for our assistance. The aliens are attacking Denver sir".

Johnson froze, thinking that something horrible had just happened. "What? Who are you? Where is Captain Chaffee?"

"Sir, I'm Lieutenant Carpenter of Lambda. Captain Chaffee had flu symptoms and the doctor sent him back to his quarters to sleep it off. I've already called for Major Prescott and all the other senior commanders but they were also asleep".

A disturbance on the other side of the bed told Johnson that Markovitch had already awaken and had jumped out of bed. A lot of questions come to his head. "Why haven't we been informed when the UFOs entered US airspace? Have you confirmed that order?"

The young officer at the other side tried to hide his nervousness but he trembled as he figured out the answers. "Sir, there have been no incoming warnings from NORAD all night. The source of the order has been confirmed: US Army, First Command HQ".

At the end of the phrase the voice of Markovitch was heard. "Just the Army? First time something like this has ever happened. What's going on?" 

"Carpenter, tell all squad and platoon leaders to get their troopers ready for action. Send an emergency message to Mother One informing them of what is happening here. And alert the East team of what is happening if they haven't received the same alert. Tell Colonel Jackson that I will contact him in one-five minutes". He flicked off the device. "I don't know but pretty soon we are going to find out". Then he went to wash his face in the sink on the bathroom. 

New York City, US

The signs at JFK's flight departures all told Evan Blake a grim picture about what was going on at Colorado. All flights to Denver had been cancelled and the airport was closed, apparently due to bad weather, according to the explanations provided by all the major airlines. Which put a setback upon Blake's plans to personally investigate what was going on at Denver. But he wasn't about to let that get into his way. He had already convinced the editorial board of the paper to assign him to cover what was going on in Denver, after the local networks had started pouring out reports of major gunfire confrontation in the city. That had been earlier in the morning and now he was standing at JFK airport and trying to get a flight that would bring him close to whatever was going on around there. On his way to the airport he had heard on the taxi's radio that the Governor of Colorado had just imposed martial law in the city and had called for the National Guard to intervene, while requesting federal assistance to deal with the armed confrontations. So far the identity of the attackers haven't been disclosed but there were reports of hundreds of deaths downtown and several television news crews were reported missing. Blake just had a hunch about what was going on there. Now it was the time to try to prove it.

Over Central Kansas, US

"Sir, Colonel Johnson just informed us that he hasn't been able to get in touch with the President so far. However the NCA order has been confirmed. We are ordered to land at Buckley AFB and assess the situation there while waiting for the West team to arrive". Jackson acknowledged the radio call and ordered the Skyrangers under his command to head to the military installation in Colorado.

However something was bothering him. Buckley AFB had given them an approach vector but they hadn't replied to his answer for permission to land. Further calls into contacting whoever was in charge were unanswered. He decided to ignore it and go check the status of the tanks embarked on board the Skyrangers. 

Some time later the planes had finally landed in a zone reserved for helicopters, close to a couple of hangars. As the X-Com troopers down the ramp and begun unloading the crates containing their weapons and equipment, Jackson started to look for the location of the base command center. He saw that a group of military vehicles had moved down the runway and were about to come near the Skyrangers. "About time!" He shouted and moved forward to meet them.

As he moved his body, the power suit detected the motions and amplified them through the servomotors installed on his legs, moving them. When each armored feet hit the concrete a small metallic clank could be heard. But the noise of Jackson's pace was suddenly curtailed as he saw the soldiers inside the trucks and the Humvees suddenly came out fully armed and trailing their M-16s at him while dodging for any available cover. He stopped and demanded: "What are you doing? Put down those weapons and get me your commander".

A Captain, still holding his assault rifle pointed at him and looking puzzled at the metal figure in front of him replied. "Don't move and surrender your weapons now or we will open fire!"

Jackson didn't know if he would laugh or get angry at the comment. The bullets on those M-16 wouldn't even scratch the power armor that he was wearing. "We are a US special forces team that has been ordered to deploy here. Check your orders for our clearance".

"Already did. You are not on it. Surrender now!" Jackson saw that his men had stop the unloading and some of them had moved closer to the crates containing the laser and plasma weapons, in no doubt getting ready to act upon his command. Bloody hell.

Close to Buckley Air Force Base, Colorado, US

About one hour later, Harris was just been reminded of one thing he definitely hated about air traffic controllers. Sometimes the bird watchers got too much illusions of power just from having to direct planes around. Such was the case with the one that he had just contacted as the X-Com's Skyrangers were about to land on the base that served as the center for the US military reaction against the attack.

"Flight Whiskey India Seven, I've already told you that you do not possess a valid security clearance for approaching the runway. You are approaching restricted airspace and you will turn into a zero-three-five bearing now!" Harris sighed and called up Johnson. "Colonel they keep saying us to piss off. Shall we tell them that also?"

"Just get us there Harris. There is still no response from Colonel Jackson?" That was worrying Johnson. The other team had landed at the same base a couple of hours ago, but so far had failed to further communicate. 

"Negative sir" The Skyranger's ground terrain radar suddenly brought the craft up to avoid an obstacle that Harris had forgotten to notice in the middle of the radio talk. He grabbed the stick back and moved the plane to a safer altitude. "Whisky Flight, this is Leader. We are going to land and show this ground pounders what they can tell us to do".

As the final distance between the airfield and the Skyrangers came to a short Harris started to notice the runway at the horizon. It seemed to have a lot of aerial activity, with many moving dots of light moving in the skies overhead it. Another voice was suddenly heard in the emergency radio channel.

"Whiskey India Seven-One flight, this is the security commander. You will turn away from this base now or you will be shot down. You have half a minute to comply with my order!" Harris wondered at what the man was talking about when he suddenly noticed that some of the bright dots were now racing towards the Skyrangers. As one of them suddenly fired, Harris came close to panicking as he realized that attack helicopters were shooting them. He immediately banked right his aircraft to avoid the incoming red fire, each salvo containing tracer rounds to illuminate the firing path of the weapon. "Colonel! This idiots are shooting back at us! I'm taking us out of here!"

"Whiskey India Seven-One. That was a warning shot. You have ten seconds to acknowledge the order or you will be shot down!" Harris signaled the other Skyrangers and then maneuvered his own plane before answering. "OK! Whiskey-India taking zero-three-five bearing now". Harris promised to find out who was the cocky son of a bitch running that show and get revenged later.

On the back of the Skyranger the fourteen heavily loaded X-Com troopers that it was carrying were just finishing getting back to their seats and locking away back all the equipment after the abrupt turn had sent them all to one side of the craft. Fortunately the armored suits had prevented any injuries besides a couple of bruises. Johnson's metal glove grabbed a trooper's shoulder and he said: "Patterson, what the fuck is this? Get to White start getting some answers on the radio about why we were shot at! And raise Jackson will you?"

"I will try to sir, but I doubt that we can raise the proper channels through the equipment we have here. I suggest we found another landing spot and try to work out this whole mess. The military frequencies are either encrypted and we don't have the codes or they are full of traffic. White and I have already identified nearly a dozen units who are deploying forces to the area. But it appears to be all uncoordinated sir". Things were not working out, Johnson thought, trying to come up with alternatives. "Very well. Any suggestions?"

Patterson's voice reassured him. "On the northeast of Denver there is a small facility that houses the Special Forces Group attached to the Colorado National Guard. I have served together with their commander before Colonel. We will have a much better welcome there". Johnson thought for a second and replied. "Give the details to Harris and let's get this whole mess resolved then".

Denver, Colorado, US

  
"Gezz Tony get down!" Linda Evans was hiding behind a parked car that had been ruined by an explosion. On her side her cameramen, Anthony Mazzaro, was up and trying to get the terrorists on tape once again. They had both been doing the night shift back at their local television network when the news had arrived of major gunfire confrontation. She had been thrilled upon being the first reporter to reach the scene but that only lasted until she saw the aliens.

And now that the night was beginning to be replaced by the day, they were finally coming down on all the adrenalin, after hours of frantic running and hiding. Tony went back to her side. "We need to get footage of this Linda, otherwise no one will believe us!" She looked at him. "You think I don't know that? This is the biggest story ever since the atomic bomb or the fall of the Berlin Wall, but we need to stay alive also!" They had managed barely alive to survive as the aliens moved towards their van, destroying it with a couple of plasma shots as they approached. They were alive only because she had panicked and started running away with Tony right behind, still carrying his camera.

"OK, OK". He took a peek over the wrecked station wagon. "Well, it seems that the groups of ETs I was trying to get on tape are gone. What are we going to do?"

"Can you see the network building?" They were trying to get back to the station to report what they had just experienced and to warn the authorities.

"Yeah, but I wouldn't count too much on it. There's smoke coming out of the second floor and I can see figures laying around on the ground". 

"Shit!" She cursed as Tony moved back on his hiding position and spoke. "We can swear as much as we want but it won't lead us nowhere. We need to get out of this area". He took another sweep around with his head. "I haven't seen any of them coming from that street there". He pointed towards an intersection to their right some two hundred meters away. The whole area was nothing more than a big series of fenced buildings that housed Denver's business district and the intersection was standing in the middle of a small group of stores .

Linda knew that she was at the point of snapping out. "Let's just go away from these devils". He nodded, took another look. "Let's go then. The coast seems clear".

As they were both half-way to the intersection a sudden noise behind made them stop and turn over. A lumbering figure had just come through the glass doors of the network building, shattering them into a million pieces. To Linda it seemed as some kind of giant brown frog but having only two legs. And a mouth full of teeth, she could see also, as he turned its head into their direction to stare directly at the pair. The thing immediately started running towards them.

Both of them started running as fast as they could but soon Linda started having a head, with the camera slowing his run. He tried to get rid of it but had to come closely to walk as he was desperatly struggling with the belt that carried the batteries. She looked backwards to tell him to hurry up but she regretted it later.

The Reaper had covered the distance between them in a flash and has he approached the cameraman it simply took a jump on his powerful legs and landed on his back, pinning him down to the ground. Tony tried to struggle out but the weight of the alien kept him underneath it. Next the Reaper just lunged forwards and used his metal teeth to rip the back of Tony's head, slicing through the cranium as if the bone was paper tissue and immediately killing him.

Linda panicked, looking at the furred beast in front of her, who now seemed distracted at the dead human in front on the middle of the road. She started to run even faster and finally upon reaching the intersection she turned south around one building. Only to found herself facing three devils fifty yards away, with their red capes and fangs on their heads. She just stood motionless, uncapable of responding as one of them lifted the large weapon is was holding and fired at her.

Fort Collins, Colorado, US

It was already early morning as the three Skyrangers of the East team landed on the helipad of the ANG base which was the staging point for the X-Com's forces. The planes had come flying under heavy clouds that where threatning to pour down rain. A light drizzle was already starting over Johnson as he moved forward to meet the Skyrangers, already standing down in their parking positions. The whole mess was beginning to be sort out after some very angry calls being made to the Pentagon and complains had been forwarded to the White House. NORAD didn't detect the UFOs for some unknown reason as they entered Earth's atmosphere. Intelligence would have to sort it out later, but for now there were other pressing matters.

The Colorado National Guard had sent the initial reports about alien activity. But after their command center in Denver was attacked and their commander killed, the information coming from the city was sparse. All other high-ranking officers were on leave, which had turned the command chain into chaos. And when the information went finally up to the Army's brass some general had decided to act immediately without going through the next step of National Command Authority, which would be contacting the Secretary of Defense and ultimately the President. But President Winston was out of the country aboard the Air Force One and heading for a state visit to South America, which had further complicated matters and the VP's whereabouts were unknown at this moment. 

Meanwhile units were rushing from all over the US to Denver in a major effort to prevent further bloodshed by the aliens. The initial estimate showed that nearly all type of units were present, although Johnson wondered what good some would do. It appeared that every major combat organization in the US was engaged in a contest to bring as many forces as possible, in no doubt wanting to get a piece of the action and the glory. The US V Corps had a military convoy on their way from Texas composed of tanks, armored personnel carriers and artillery. All of that hardware ill-fitted to deal with the alien weapons, which could penetrate their armour easily. Not to mention the civilian casualties such firepower would bring in the middle of urban fighting. The XVIII Airborne Corps, the US's rapid reaction force, had also mobilized and was sending troops through aerial means. Even the Marines were sending some of their units. But overall there seemed to be no strategy, other than to send as many troops as possible.

One of the armored figures that where disembarking fully armed from the Skyrangers suddenly turned towards Johnson and started to walk in his direction. When he reached him he put his plasma rifle hanging from its bandolier, but still holding it while the other hand detached a helmet matching Johnson's, both of them sporting the X-Com's insignia for colonel, the black X envolving a globe perfectly clear against the gray alien metal of the armour.

Jackson made no effort at hiding his displeasure. "Well Johnson, what a freaking mess this is turning out to be! Me and my men have just been detained by the US military for hours with no access to our weapons or radio equipment!" The face of Jackson showed deep anger. "And while we were waiting because of some major fuck-up the aliens are still in Denver! Would you mind telling me what the fuck is going on now!?"

"Cool off Colonel. The whole situation has been straightened out now. Or at least the Army brass is trying to now, after having realized the amount of errors they have made. My own forces were shot at while approaching Buckley".

"We saw it! That's when the bozos guarding us suddenly become more paranoid than ever. The officer in charge even demanded to inspect our equipment. I adamantly refused and for a moment it seemed that a confrontation would break out. Fortunately someone right afterwards told him to cool it off on the radio and he managed to do so until we where allowed to departure". He looked around to the base and replied. "How did you manage to get clearance to land here anyway? Our power suits and the fact that we don't belong to the US military must have also raised some questions on this Green Berets minds".

"Patterson knows the commanding officer. We simply told him that we are a special team and that confirmation of our status would come shortly, which it did".

"You finally managed to talk to someone who knows what he is doing around here? Good! Now just tell me what we have gotten ourselves into! That is, beside the fact that there are aliens running around over there", he moved his metal arm in the direction of Denver, "and that they are killing people" Johnson decided that he didn't like the tone of Jackson. Although both men had the same rank inside X-Com, Johnson had been put in charge of the North American command because of his experience dealing with the aliens. Something that Jackson didn't like at all since he had seniority of Johnson.

"Colonel," He made an emphasis on that word, "first I need to know your team status. Only then we shall discuss the rest". He stopped there and gave a hard look to Jackson to reassure his position. The other officer was displeased but he replied in a low but formal tone.

"Second North American Combat Group ready, consisting of three platoons. First and Second platoons are fully manned, third Platoon has been reformed into an armored configuration". 

"Armored configuration?!" Only then Johnson noticed the sound of the tanks, as they were getting ready to move still inside the Skyrangers. "You are bringing such heavy firepower into a civilian area?!"

"Your order stated to deploy with all assets available. I just interpreted your orders that way, Colonel". Jackson was running close to the edge of disrespect but Johnson ignored it. "Very well. However if anyone dies because of these robots you will be held responsible to it, is that understood Jackson? So just don't go blitz with them around the city". The other officer didn't bother to reply.

"Very well. The situation is this: the aliens are holding some neighborhoods, the majority of them residential areas. The Air Force has sent one of their birds to take some pictures. They haven't released them yet but the pilot reported on his debriefing that the aliens landed their UFOs in the sports fields of a high school. After landing they immediately moved to strike at several targets, including police stations and public buildings. The Colorado National Guardsmen who were at their posts tried to mount a defense but it was unsuccessful. And the situation haven't been contained yet, even though more than twelve hours have passed since they have landed". 

"Doesn't surprise me. While we were back at that Air Force base we could see a complete disorganization. Troops would arrive and be left out in the cold since there is no one at that base trying to coordinate anything. Hell, I don't even know what they can do with the gear they have there. They have helicopters, some of them even Apaches, but they have no idea on how to use them. We need to get them now, before they can improve their defenses".

"That's exactly my opinion, but the initial estimates for their numbers are on the hundreds, all of them Floaters and Reapers. Together with your team we can only field a little more than sixty combat troops, although the few Berets present here will surely give us a hand".

"But what about the forces back at Buckley? We can't just discard them!"

"It will take several hours to appoint someone who knows what he is doing to command them. We don't have that time. But Major Patterson has contacted a unit from the 101st Air Assault Division this is about to arrive. They will help us out". 

Upon hearing that his old unit was involved Jackson seemed to relax a bit. "Screaming Eagles all the way, let's see if they fare better than my Wild Hunters. What's the plan?"

"We are going to use a feint. One of our combat groups will make a frontal assault to distract them, while the other circles around to hit the UFOs in the least defended flank. The guys from the 101st have their own helicopters so we can use them as a mobile tactical reserve to exploit any breakthrough or help out in case any complications came up. Since you brought along the tanks you are assigned to distract the bugs while we go for the UFOs".

Jackson thought for a second and nodded in reluctance. "I don't like the fact that we are attacking without knowing the strenght of our enemy, but it will have to do".

"I'm going to radio Buckley and tell them of our plans. Maybe they can get their shit together and give you some help. I wouldn't count on it though".

"For me, just tell them to piss off. I'm going to get my team ready, I will talk to you later". He abruptly turned and left leaving Johnson close to calling him back and giving a lesson on how to behave in front of a commanding officer. But he decided to put it away. Jackson was infamous for this type of behaviour and he needed that the other Colonel was one-hundred percent focused on wreaking havoc on the aliens' frontline.

Another armoured figure came from the direction of the East team's Skyrangers and approached Johnson. He wore the triple chevrons of a Captain and as he came up him they removed their helmets and stood smiling at him.

Johnson immediately recognized them. "Hunt" He moved to greet him with a strong metal handshake. "How are you doing Douglas?"

The other officer smiled and replied. "Good sir. I'm still on command of first platoon and I've got Garcia and Andrews on my team. They have now been both bumped to Sargeants and will come to talk to you later after they are finished whooping the rookies's asses on their squads".

Johnson let go of a short laugh since usually it would be the other way around, with both troopers having to put up with Gunny Hopkins. "What about Dennis? How's he doing?"

Hunt made a cold face and just added. "Didn't have a chance. Got hit straight in the face by a heavy plasma shot in a UFO retrieval mission. No armour could have stopped that". Johnson felt his stomach go colder. "Sorry to hear that. He was a good man".

"Yeah, you are right, sir". He stopped and raised his hand up to his ear, listening and afterwards "Gotta go sir. Jackson is calling for me. Nice talking to you". Johnson nodded and after a quick shake and salute they both went back to their business. Time to finally hit the aliens.

Downtown Denver, Colorado

King just shook his head, both in relief and as if not believing in the alien's stupidity. Every race they had encountered so far was intelligent and cunning, capable of pulling out a deadly bag of tricks. But sometimes they would just do basic military mistakes that every non-com or officer with a half a brain would know. Floaters were the worse, of course, their ugliness in no doubt reflecting on their intelligence. And probably they had the same problem that going up in the command ladder only seemed to made people even more stupid, in King's opinion. With some exceptions, of course but this Floater commander didn't seem to be one of them, moving around in a combat zone without a proper escort and not worrying about staying out of enemy snipers. Dumb. Or maybe they just don't care about who is pulling rank over them. It didn't matter. For King war represented the ultimate razor through which natural selection occurred, since anyone involved on it would have to survive stupidity. His own stupidity and the one of the leadership above him. 

When King and Duschamps had spotten the trio he could see that they could only be having some sort of tactical discussion, in no doubt provoked by Colonel Jackson's attack to the south that had started a little while ago. Sigma squad had been deployed as pathfinders, ahead of Johnson's main formation, with each team positioned at one flank. They were going as higher on the buildings as possible to detect any Floater patrol in the way of the team. And now they were watching through a third floor window at the beginning of a park, with a road ending there in a T junction. Besides the aliens there was no other living thing around. Only a couple of puddles of human blood in the sidewalk said of what had happened to the people who lived in the residential area ahead of them.

"Colonel, King here, I got what seems to be the leader on my scope, accompanied by two other aliens that might be officers also. What do you want me to do?" While he waited for the response he took another look through the sight mounted on top of his adapted plasma rifle. On his side Deschamps was concealed and looking through binoculars at the trio, his laser rifle close to him.

"King stay put and wait. We are moving on the double to reach your position. Keep them in sight over and out". More waiting. Still he didn't mind. Better to be all nicely concealed up here than right on the frontline. He looked again at the trio of Floaters.

To the south of King's position, one of X-Com's automated tanks was slowly moving down a street approaching one large supermarket. Small figures moved behind him, using the Heavy Weapons Platform as cover and trying to gain as much advance as possible. The Second Combat Group had easily managed a breakthrough of the alien's frontline and now the troopers and tanks were trying to consolidate their gains. The grey HWP, already with scarred burns of plasma shots on its armour made of alien alloys suddenly stopped while its turret started to turn to the right. The troopers close to it immedialy dodged away for the machine, knowing that it had detected opposition and was about to respond to the enemy.

The computer that ran the HWP had just recognized several of the aliens with its visual and infrared sensors, hiding in the mess of wrecked cars that was the parking lot of the chain supermarket. The heavy laser it carried was about to fire into their direction when the Floaters reacted first and unleashed a barrage of heavy plasma into the hull of the HWP. One shot hit it directly on the turret, immediately destroying it and leaving the computer inside the tank almost blind. The next one carved a hole through the already mangled armour and kept burning inside until it reached the engine. As the machine came to a full stop, dead on its tracks, the remaining plasma energy finally reached the fuel tanks, causing an internal explosion that imploded the HWP.

Inside his power suit, Jackson looked in anger as the tank expelled a metallic death cry, no longer able to receive commands. Not only the advance was painstakingly slow but also the aliens were pressing his flanks, causing him more than enough problems. Hunt was just warning him of another Reaper charge into his left position that they were having trouble to deal with, even with the new plasma weaponry which included a portable flame thrower. All around his men were hiding under cover, only occasionally looking over and firing back their plasma and laser weapons. 

Looking around he decided that he had enough of being boggled in this place. Time to call in the artillery. "Hammer Three forward. Pattern of supressive fire, target main building at northwest. Third Platoon right behind. Take out who ever is hiding into that damn building". A mechanical noise coming from behind him immediately followed as another HWP started advancing. But, instead of a barrel on the center of the turret it had two long metal tubes attached. Suddenly their rear become filled with smoke and fire as it launched two rockets into the direction of the parking lot. One hit a car already turned upside down, lifting it several feet into the air while the blast of the explosion incinerated all things around it. The second explosive projectile went through the entrance of the supermarket, only exploding in the inside. A cloud of smoke and debris immediately came. The Floaters there stopped firing back. "Third Platoon move out!" Jackson spoke on the radio. 

Fear. Pain. Coldness. Conscience. With a brief realization Linda woke up, suddently realizing that she should be dead but she wasn't. She was afraid to open her eyelids, to face what they would reveal. And the numbness that was in control of her body made it hard to think. After some time, which she couldn't quantify in minutes or seconds she become aware that her body was laying on a cold metal floor as if it was a pile of dirty clothes. She started to feel very unconfortable at the position where the aliens had dropped her but was also afraid to move, to attract their presence to her.

She had felt them already, moving around and making hissing sounds. That noise had been the final waking up to reality, only to discover that it was much worse than your typical nightmare. However, as more time passed curiosity started to grow on her, to see what the beasts were doing, of what would become of her. 

So she opened her eyelids a bit to see where she was at. It was a room all made up of what seemed some sort of metal, with two big columns to both sides of her. A white light behind her supplemented the other unseen illumination that allowed her to see clearly. Apparently there was another room in front of her, since there were two corridors on its sides and a lot of noise inside could be heard. It seemed to be some sort of electrical device working but she couldn't be sure. 

Suddenly, a whooshing sound made her close her eyes a bit but she still was able to see as a Floater came from the right corridor. In spite of all the instinctal fear and repulsion she wondered from where these things were and what did they wanted to do. This would the story of the decade…. provided that she would survive it. She kept watching as the alien reached forward and grabbed a silent human shape that she hadn't noticied yet. The dark pink arms of the extraterrestrial picked it up with no effort and put it over its shoulders as if it was a bag full of potatoes. Linda couldn't tell if the man was dead or alive since it made no movement while the alien carried him back to the room where it had just came from. She wondered what she should do and decided to see more of the room. Moving her head she noticied that the light behind her came from a glass cylinder. It contained an almost clear liquid inside the strong glass cylinder, but on in the middle it was starting to turn into a reddish colour. Looking at the top she saw the reason from slowly changing of colour. An upper human torso was floating on the surface of the liquid, with the blood coming out of a shoulder socket from where the arm was missing and from his chest. But injuries seemed to be cauterized but there was still blood coming out from them. It was Tony or what seemed to be the left of him, she realized in horror.

A human scream coming from the room in front of her told her what was going on inside. She immediately jumped into her feet, or tried to, still feeling groggy but moving around to try to run away from this horror. Running around she only found more glass cylinders and stunned people on the floor. Until suddenly, when she finally gave up, the wall on her back opened up as she was laying against one of the big metal square column. As she was starting to fell she took some steps backwards and moved her arms, trying get back into balance. Until she saw that she was bathed in a voilet light and all of the sudden she found herself on the floor of another room. Two Floaters where on the same level, looking at her. One of them simply grabbed her, not bothering about her screams and kicking and used the elevator to take her upwards. 

Close to the high school grounds where the aliens had parked their UFOs, Gamma squad was standing immobile against the remains of a gas station. The area had been subject of a massive explosion, in no doubt caused by the result of plasma fire against volatile fuel. Only the remains of the shop and debris remained. Johnson's team had just picked up some major alien resistance. The four members where laying against the ground, pinned down by two or three enemy foxholes in front of them where the aliens had established heavy plasma fireteams. 

A shot from the houses where the aliens where entrenched came too close to Jones's head and he decided to burrow himself more to the ground. "Damn! I would wish we could hide our heads, like those damn turtles!" Neither of any other men of Gamma's bothered to answer but they all knew the story he was talking about. When the new power suits first started to be fitted to the combat squads one of the technical personnel had looked at them and mentioned that it made the troops look like turtles, since the heavily armoured torso section looked like the oval carapace of the amphibean. The name had stuck. Another shot brushed over his shoulder, but the armour hold out, giving him only a small feeling of warmth on the area. 

Johnson's voice could clearly be heard in the middle of the laser and plasma fire, as the amplifiers inside his helmet carried his commands to the figure of Hopkins. "Hopkins, take your squad and Epsilon and clear those holes. Careful with the firepower. Other squads have reported civilians running around in the area!" The Sargeant simply nodded and moved away from Johnson, who turned to White then. The communications specialist was responsible for listening to all of the battle reports and to filter them, in order to to flood Johnson with all of the information. "White, what's the status on Jackson? How are they doing?"

The Corporal didn't bother to face Johnson, still too absorted into what he was listening, but giving a report. "Second group encountering heavy alien resistance. Progress is slow. I have also monitored US military channels and the other forces operating seemed to be trying to take advantage of our attack. Trying to get more right now Colonel". Johnson looked around, knowing that Markovitch and Jerrel's platoons where also being slowed down on his flanks and wondering what to do. Then he remembered King and reached for his radio. 

On the other side of the battlefield, the three aliens had already started to move when King immediately responded to Johnson's order by taking a second to verify the aim on his scope, and afterwards, after letting go of a short breath, squeezed the plastic trigger. A green bolt was released from the barrel of his plasma rifle but he didn't bother to check if he had hit and turned instead his aim to the other two, and fired at them in succession. "All three down, let's get out of here before they spot us out!" Deschamps was already moving after speaking the words. King removed itself also, wondering how many kills had taken Rumpole, the other sniper on the team. 

When Hopkins finally reached his squad, after moving low between a series of burned cars that the X-Com team was using for protection, he found all of them trying to exchange fire with the aliens. He had already discussed the matter with Grisham. His squad was more heavily armed and would cover Epsilon as they moved to dug out the enemy. "Levine, get that heavy plasma ready! We are moving to keep the ugly s.o.b.s. with what pass as their heads down and now!". He then unloaded passed his own heavy plasma to Sharpe and unloaded his rocket launcher from his back.

Sargeant Grisham's voice pumped Logan into action. Two holes in front of them, with the aliens hiding their ugly faces inside two suburban houses close one to another. And behind them was the open space that would lead into the UFOs. He had a primed grenade in one of his hands and his plasma rifle on the other. The Sarge had told him not to get into any personal heroics otherwise he would get him back at the base, if the aliens didn't do that first. 

With Beta covering their move, the four men of Epsilon all came out of their hiding places all of a sudden, taking quick turns to make it harder for the aliens to aim at them. One step left, two right, one right, two left, as them all continued to make their way towards the relative safety of the bush fences between them and the houses. On Logan's left and in his left, Manning suddenly screamed and dropped on a knee, holding his leg.

A rocket suddenly flew as a response from the X-Com lines and went over one of the broken windows of the house, exploding inside. But the incoming fire was about as intense as Logan moved forward and finally dove behind the bushes' cover. He finally looked around to check: the Sarge and Deckard had made it, Manning was down but still trying to get into cover. All of them primed their grenades and waited as the aliens took an interval on their fire. Them they all jumped out of their positions, Grisham immediately taking a shot on his frontal armour than almost knocked him off his feet. But he still managed to throw the alien grenade through the space where there used to be a front door. Logan did the same, but on the contrary of the other two members of his squad he moved forwards, instead of getting back into cover.

The grenades went off with a powerful explosion. They had been designed after the ones used by the aliens, but they where much more powerful than the terrestrial ones since they used Elerium as explosive. As a result the blast swept over the entire ground floor of the house, taking out the inside and most of the outside walls in the process. And the other house literally was demolished, unable to withstand the force of two grenades, with the upper level crashing down. Logan felt the concussion of the blast through the wall that he was laying against. He then turned to a hole on his right and started to pick out any alien survivors.  

Over him, Johnson saw the heavily armed Apaches of the 101st Air Assault where moving over his advance, helping to pick away any pockets of resistance. The aliens were pulling back and they were finally moving forward, towards the UFOs. King's voice came up, with a hint of hurry on her. "Colonel, King here. We have moved forwards and are directly looking at the alien craft. They are getting ready to move sir! They are finishing boarding the UFOs and they are taking civilians with them!" Johnson immediately told his men to rush forward but it was too late. 

"NO!" Markovitch screamed and dropped her knees to the ground, as she watched the departing UFOs burned their way across the atmosphere and away from Denver. She started to raise her arms, but stopped halfway for lack of strenght, her plasma rifle dropping from her hands out of a sudden and falling to the grass. Standing there, in the middle of all the confusion as the X-Com troopers from her platoon moved past her, she closed her eyes and felt the presence of the humans entrapped on the alien ships. Fear, pain and horror invaded her and for a moment she felt her own reason lost amongst all of the feelings she was experiencing. 

Until finally, after seconds which seemed to last for hours a voice outside brought her back to reality. "Captain, are you hurt?" She recognized it as being Private Camay of Phi, the blonde paramedic of her unit who was already started to bring out her medi-kit, a device that, when attached to an injured, allowed a skilled operator to assess the injuries and stop any bleeding and perform other emergency procedures. "I'm alright Camay", she mumbled as the trooper stood there, unsure of what to do. Markovitch just dismissed her with a hand and kept looking at the diminishing lights at the distance. 

April 5th, 2000

Capitol Hill, Washington D.C., US

The House and Senate Select Committees on Intelligence were the Congress' means of supervising and controlling the work of the US intelligence community. Due to the fact that most information released to them by the CIA and other agencies was classified, the findings of their meetings was itself top secret and in most cases they would be the only members of Congress fully briefed on intelligence operations, or threats, such as the going on war with the extraterrestrials.

For a long time Williams could count by the fingers of a hand the number of occasions that he had been summoned to the hearings. That had quickly changed after the first encounters with the aliens and now Congress demanded to know what had happened back in Denver and how it did come possible. On Williams opinion the joint hearings he had been attending for days were basically useless and only a hysterical act from some of the congressmen, specially the pair from Colorado who sat at the Committees. The message to be taken from the whole terrorist attack was quite clear: things would only get hotter as time would go by. The thousands of civilian and military victims, either dead or missing, told that as much. 

As he stayed seated and faced the congressmen in front of him at the joint meeting he seriously thought that in this case the legislature was getting a bit on the way of intelligence and military operations. Already the press was having a field day putting on a cross the Federal Government because of their failure to allow that a terrorist group so large would be able to enter the US and perform such an operation. That had been again the cover story supplied and luckily no one had been able to capture a perfect image of a Floater on a camera. Although the major networks and papers were putting a lot of their airtime dedicated to the claims of murdering extraterrestrials, the whole thing just looked too much surreal for a lot of people. The footage of the carnage and the survivors had already been too much for the audiences who seemed that only wanted that life moved along now.

That was in the outside. Here in this building some senators had taken a criticizing tone of the whole X-Com operation and how it was being run and had been close to demand that the US forces attached to it be placed back under US control. Worse yet, most of them didn't want to see the gravity of the situation, being more concerned to guarantee the votes of the electors in their states or districts. The military had already taken quite a beating on this room about their inability to prevent the casualties suffered by Denver's population during the attack. No one had been spared: NORAD for the failure to detect the UFOs, the Army for the disorganization that plagued the US response to it and for keeping to itself the information about the attack for too long. Already a few general's heads had already been chopped off into forced early retirement. And now it seemed it was the time of the intelligence machine.

"Mr. Williams", one of the Senators from Colorado began, a man over his fifties. "You have given us your statement on the intelligence recovered so far from the aliens. On their possible motives to conduct such attacks upon civilian population. And, like others heard in this hearings before, have claimed that actually the genocide perpetrated upon Denver's residents was actually a military success, due to the efficiency of X-Com in eliminating the aliens after being deployed. I differ on your conclusions sir, after all what I heard during this days. This whole event has only shown that the intelligence community isn't being successful on their analysis of the threat upon the US. And although this joint committee recognizes that X-Com managed to prevent the aliens actions, during the time it took them to react our own local and federal forces had no resources available to them to deal with the threat. What I ask you is: why is that? How come our own regular forces aren't armed with those lasers and plasmas that had been so successfully used by X-Com?" His voice had taken an icy tone, close to irony but closer to disgust.

"Senator, the conditions on which the Charter was signed by the US President and further ratified by the Senate are well-known. X-Com simply can't release any information dealing with weapons research. The whole project would most likely come to an end if that happened".

"Mr. Williams, we all heard that before but now thousands of Americans are dead right now because our armed and police forces have to fight back the aliens using weapons designed for the Vietnam War. The situation has changed: we can't just allow ourselves to be put away from the technology we need for our own survival". Some nods around the rest of the congressmen told Williams that many other members shared his opinion, probably the chairman itself. Not good.

"Senator, what are you suggesting?" Time to defuse the whole situation. "We can't just demand to Colonel Johnson that he releases the technical data behind the plasma and laser weapons. Or can we use the CIA to try to infiltrate X-Com and capture one of them or steal the blueprints. In the past Congress has taken steps to avoid that the CIA conducts operations on US territory. Are you ready to suggest repealing that sir, knowing that it's one of the ways by which Congress controls the intelligence community?" The look on the senator's face brought horror to Williams mind.

"We wouldn't be needing such a measure, since, as you have mentioned before, the X-Com bases upon US territory belong now to the United Nations, avoiding such legal matters. Just a matter of interpretation of the law. However, as for your last question, in my case the answer is yes. But that only if we have the right people in front of our intelligence agencies, who are able to properly exploit such power and not to abuse it".

The stupidity of the human mind and the threat patent upon his words shocked Williams. He silently wished that the whole matter would come to an end with no major changes done by Congress. Not that the CIA hadn't performed illegal operations before in the US since they had been caught red-handed a couple times. The problem was in legalizing such operations and if there would be any person responsible enough to wage such a power. But worse yet for Williams was the implication present in his voice about "the right people".

April 7th, 2000

Central London, United Kingdom

When Number Nine had finished talking, Two stayed silent for a while, standing immobile on his chair. After some seconds Two mildly asked: "Sir?"

The blue eyes of Two focused back on the other group member. "The subject you have brought to my attention is very interesting. I take it that you have not engaged in further action?"

"I decided that this was a matter that affected all of us. Liabilities can be turned into assets".

"Wisely done. We are in difficult times and we can't just simply throw away everything that doesn't fit with our plans. Have you ever heard of the One-Man Factor?"

"The One-Man factor? I don't recall having discussed it with you ever".

"Most likely you wouldn't, since it's a theory the majority of us tends to overlook, although we have given it several discussion in the past. You see, History is made out of the will of the masses and that's what we act upon, molding society in the whole. But sometimes, by what some call luck or destiny an individual obtains a position where he can single handily change the nature of things".

"It seems to me that your appliance of that vector into this question has also some other meaning involved regarding our own nature".

"Clever, aren't you? But our own association nullifies this factor since the others keep the individual's actions under check. No one is to gain too much power that would allow him to impose his own visions with the agreement of the majority. We are not prophets aiming to create a new religion or society. No, the risks involved are too great and too much would quickly go out of our control. Like someone said, the revolution eats its own sons".

Number Nine smiled, upon realizing what the other man was talking about. Number Two looked back at him and continued. "Like Arquimedes once said: give me the right lever and I can lift the world. The same happens inside any man. Find out what is his drive, his passion and you can steer it and direct it to serve your own goals".

André Galvão, 2001 


	18. Counter Point

X-Com – The Unknown Menace

Chapter Seventeen – Counter Point

Millions of years before recorded human History

Zeta Two Reticuli star system, 37 light years from Earth

Like a pair of twins, the two Sun type stars that formed this binary star system looked identical, dancing together at the rhythm of the laws of gravity. Rare in quantity in the galaxy already, this pair had another strange characteristic: when it was being formed the twin stars hadn't absorbed all of the protoplanetary material, leaving enough to condense into planets. 

Joining the stars on their motion in the universe there were five planets and all of them locked in circular orbits. The two closest to the twin suns were nothing more than sterile balls of rock and metal constantly being bombarded by radiation and heat. The third planet was still a young planet burning brightly in space, with a very active nucleus, which turned most of the surface into lava. The stars' gravitational force had never allowed it to cool down, so it remained at a primordial state. 

However, one of the universe's bizarre and experiments had worked out on the fourth planet. Its position in the star system allowed it to receive the necessary heat to allow for liquid water, one of life's conditions. And fueled by the radiation of the twin stars, life started to appear on the oceans. But, unlike Earth, there were no periodical mass extinctions caused by collisions with meteors or comets, since the formation of the twin star system had used most of the protoplanetary material and the fifth planet was a gas giant that served as a shield against spatial bombardments. Evolution kept a very geometrical growth and soon an intelligent species evolved to dominate the planet. With large eyes coming from an evolutionary need to see underwater in the dark and lean bodies to reduce friction while swimming, the aquatic origins of these beings were evident. And when these aliens finally moved outside of water and to the land, the effect was similar to when men's ancestors learned to walk on two, instead of on four. They were already an intelligent species, capable of forming societies and as they started to venture on land, the new opportunities and challenges finally brought them intelligence.

But the new conditions were also very hard for bodies originally adapted to live underwater, underneath coral-like organisms and inside caverns, where the radiation's effects where lighter than in the surface. The aliens were soon aware of their dilemma through observation of the lesser and lesser numbers of their progeny: by leaving the shores and moving above water they had gained intelligence, but also the high-mutation rates were causing a dangerously weak gene pool, since most of the offspring of most mutations would die at birth. So they had to revert to genetic engineering and cloning to maintain the population necessary to the survival of their civilization.

And one day another factor told them of their need to escape their planet in order to assure their survival. One of the major celebrations and events of their culture consisted of an extremely rare eclipse when one of the stars would pass in front of the other and blaze the sky with light, as the light from the star behind bended over its companion. But as they started to make records of the event and mathematically anticipate it, they became aware that the frequency of this phenomenon was changing. While at first it was attributed to an error, the number of discrepancies forced them to realize that the relationship between both stars was changing and with it other changes would be brought upon them. One day the great green and blue water surfaces of their planet would be nothing more than vast masses of ice, as the interplanetary forces at work were pulling away the planets from the heat of the twin stars. Ironically, it would probably also reduce the radiation to a level naturally bearable to their bodies but in the end the lower temperatures would destroy their civilization.

But their leaders weren't also completely satisfied with their only means of survival. A great menace lurked in the darkness of space, an unsafe invitation that they felt in their collective mind, developed during their aquatic experience. Dissent and opposition had never been a major factor on their society until now and it was threatening to destroy the fabric of their society. The discussion wasn't about if they could develop the necessary interstellar technology, but if they were ready do deal with the unseen forces hiding in space. Eventually a compromise was worked out and specific preparations were made, even if it meant the elimination of the still dissident factions. It was the time to encounter their fate in the cold stars. 

April 14th, 2000

Area 51, Nevada, US

"No! No! No! No!" Jake Landon removed the virtual reality goggles he was wearing and threw them to the console he was facing. The plastic and metal device hit the monitor, now showing only dark and felt down, only to be left suspended a few inches from the ground by the wire that attached them to the workstation. On his left, Pharris just placed the pen he was holding on notepad on top of his knees and replied: "That costs money, you know?"

"Get another one and get me also more processing speed. The system is going way too slow in accepting my instructions. The pauses on processing the damn software just drive me nuts!"

Pharris just gave him a mock smile. "Another Cray-7 computer? IBM might take a while to get us another one equipped with the alien processors and you have nearly spent the equivalent of a small country's national product already". Landon rolled his eyes in frustration and countered. "Is that what you did back in the NSA, Pharris? Bean counting?"

The smirk increased on the ex-NSA specialist. "Well, let's just say that if Dr. Mantell hadn't assigned me to supervise this research, the costs could be reaching into astronomical figures".

"Astronomical. Funny. I get the joke. Ha!". He picked up the goggles and placed them over the keyboard in front of him. But Pharris wasn't about to let it go. "Give it another try Jake. You have already figured out most of how the alien system processes information. The guys back at engineering are already going nuts over your findings on how to operate gravitational fields. They are talking about actually putting an Elerium engine on an airframe and start doing some tests".

"Yeah, whatever". He rubbed his eyes. "That was the easy part, actually. The aliens aren't stupid: they have managed to keep the operating system clean and simple as possible. But whomever designed this thing also managed to leave some enigmas inside and those are the ones who are pissing me off".

The former NSA officer raised his eyes in curiosity. The National Security Agency was responsible for securing US communications and also to decode other countries' secrets. "What are you talking about? Have you found out any thing extraordinary?"

"No. Yes, I mean, there are some pieces of the code that don't seem to have any purpose at a first look. Since you people are trying to build a flying saucer I didn't took very notice at them, but a week ago something made me think about their purpose".  He put back the goggles. "I'll show you". Pressing a command in the keyboard in front of him, he selected the alien operating system mode. Pharris turned from Landon to the monitor in front of him see what he was doing, as the hacker started to move his arms in the air, giving out virtual commands.

The visual display unit had a relay from the goggles, showing what the operator was seeing and doing in the virtual environment used to run the alien computer. As it started coming to life, a series of strange looking icons appeared, some of them branded together with a brief explanation in English. But Landon wasn't interested in those. Gesticulating in the air, he pushed them aside, until a strange set of six symbols consisting of loops and jagged edges appeared. This time no comments in English appeared.

Pharris wondered at what he was supposed to be looking at. "Equal to many other stuff we've seen so far". Landon's voice responded. "Yeah, I thought so also. But do you remember when we've decided to look into the navigational system of that medium UFO a week ago?" Pharris nodded, but remembered that Jake couldn't see him and added an affirmative response. "Yes, you asked if we had systems belonging to different UFOs to test your hypothesis about how the computer deals with different craft and their masses".

"Exactly. Well, out of a hunch I've decided to take also a look at some series of strange data I had seen in the other operating system. Some of them are already recognizable as numbers, using the alien twelve-digits numeration". He punched his fingers, as if pressing an invisible keyboard, with numbers appearing below a pair of the symbols. Pharris looked at them and didn't seem impressed. But before he could express a comment, Landon spoke back. "Now, watch their equivalents on the other UFO's operating system".

A new set of six symbols appeared below the original one. Three of the symbols were different, but the remaining two were equal to the pair above them. Pharris just shook its head and turned it to him. "Landon, this is useless, it can be anything".

The young man simply kept dialing invisible commands, which annoyed Pharris. When he was done after some seconds time he spoke again, as if he was holding something. "I need more information about the circumstances on where these devices were recovered. I also need access to more alien computers".

Pharris couldn't tell if the college student was joking or crazy. "You are nuts Pharris. Every one here is in a need to know basis about alien data. In your case and with your background that is even more evident. They didn't just put me here to do bean counting, you know?" 

The hacker just smiled. "Is that so? Well, in this case I think there's a need for me to understand what the other two symbols might mean, since I've discovered the secret of the third one". Pharris looked and saw that one had different comments in English. "UFO TYPE 1". But the corresponding icon below also was tagged, but as "UFO TYPE 2". Confusion raced to his mind. "What am I supposed to be looking at here?"

"Identification. Those symbols tell the system what sort of craft is it dealing with".

Pharris took a deep look at them and asked: "When did you find out about this?"

"Doesn't matter. The two first are some sort of numerical variables. Now, what might the other three symbols tell us about? You might want to check how these things were recovered to give us some clues".

Pharris recalled the details of the two retrievals. The first one was from the first UFO captured at Florida more than a year ago. The second had been the harvester model secured at the Pacific coast. In front of him were the identifications for both UFO types. What about the others? His first shock appeared when he remembered that one was manned by Sectoids and the other by Floaters. Another of the symbols would probably mention the race. But for what purpose and why there were numerical markers?

The greatest shock came when he realized what might be the purpose of the other symbols.  So far they had race and UFO type figured it out. Could the other ones be mission orders or other identification markers? Like a beacon? The aliens used transponder beacons on their UFOs close to the ones on planes? "Shit!" he suddenly let go and went to check the records. Landon smiled, as he saw that his plan to get more processing speed had worked and kept punching commands in the air. 

April 29th, 2000

Complex YY-18, Japan

The blazing alarm of an UFO intrusion was nearly deafening as Colonel Yamashita run through the corridors leading into the command center of X-Com's Far East base. He had already passed through many troopers and non-military personnel running around to their emergency positions and that had told him that something big was up, since this level of alert was restricted to alien terrorist attacks. When he heard the warning he was checking the new power suits in the armory and he didn't bother to pick up a phone. Instead, less than two minutes had passed on his run when he entered the control room.

The air defense boards were all lit up with pictorial representations of Japan and parts of the Asian mainland. That told Yamashita that it was a regional threat, which considerately lowered the odds of being something bad. That is, it wasn't anything worse than having aliens killing civilians. Yamashita ignored the irony and went to check for himself what was going on as the officer in charge was barking commands and seemed very occupied at the moment.

One of the boards showed the Sea of Japan, centered on the area between southern Japan and China. Looking closer he saw the reason for the emergency status: four red dots had just crossed into his country's airspace. But something was wrong with the UFOs, although Yamashita couldn't just see what it was. Meanwhile the Major in command, a small man with glasses in black X-Com fatigues came up to him and spoke:

"Colonel, radar only picked up the four UFOs as they were entering the ADIZ already. But something is wrong with the radar tracks we are picking. The flight patterns are wrong for alien activity". Yamashita didn't say a word in reply, telling the Major to continue. "The four intruders used a low-altitude approach to be undetected until now, when they finally pulled up to be seen on the radars. Also, their speed and radar signature tells that these are conventional jets, possibly fighters, not UFOs".

Yamashita realized the statement yet unspoken by the Major. He simply spoke: "Get me a line to Commander Illyuschenko. And also to the Prime-Minister".

May 4th, 2000

Geneva, Switzerland

The map showed most of Asia, with the Japanese Islands defining its right and India and Russia taking up the left. The countries with a seat in the Council of Funding Nations, India, Japan and Russia, were marked on dark blue, whilst the remaining nations had a light blue tone. With one alarming exception: China, which instead had a light red, almost pinkish, color. But more troublesome were the dark dots that where standing close to China's borders with India, Vietnam and Russia. Each of them represented a point of Chinese military activity in the past days, either a base that had gone into high activity or a military unit in tactical deployment. And in China's coastline with the Pacific, things were also heating up, with the Chinese Navy deploying most of its oceanic fleet, while fighters kept making incursions in an area ranging from the Japanese Islands to the Philippines. Taiwan had just announced a full mobilization of its armed forces, fearing that China would make an invasion attempting to establish control over the separated island. 

And in the middle of all the political chaos cast by the Chinese military maneuvers, X-Com was trying to fight a war, Illyuschenko felt tempted to say, standing in the middle of the Council of Funding Nations while continuing to explain the situation to the men and women in front of him. 

"The type of forces deployed by the Chinese actually don't make them a that dangerous. So far the units involved don't seem to be using more than human technology and in most cases their best wouldn't have a fighting chance against the military of more advanced nations. However it's their numbers that can be quite alarming: more than thirty divisions and several hundred combat planes have been mobilized. If the aliens actually give the Chinese access to plasma technology, the troops involved could actually take all of South-East Asia, before any other outside country could intervene. And the Chinese are also broadening their horizons, in no doubt anxious to use the agreement they made with the aliens to establish themselves as a superpower". He looked upwards to face the new image that had just appeared, showing a picture taken from above of a harbor where ships could be seen standing by peers or on dry docks. The image showed three large figures, all of them standing at dry docks. 

"The larger figure is the _Variag_, an aircraft carrier built for the Soviet Navy but never delivered. The hull was sold to a Chinese consortium a couple of years ago, supposedly to be used as a floating entertainment complex. It seems it had a completely different destiny since the Chinese are now working on making it operational. If they are successful their ability to project long-range power will be greatly increased. Their navy will surely be more aggressive and start threatening the sea lanes of the area".  Illyuschenko looked at the Japanese councilman. The man had taken off his hat and put it on the table in front of him, while stroking his mustache and smoking a long cigarette. His cold face showed no emotion but Illyuschenko knew he wasn't pleased. 

"Moreover, and this is should be the main aspect discussed at this council, this activity is starting to undermine the efficiency of our forces in the field. Although X-Com is following a policy of not engaging any human craft or ships, the Chinese are not playing by the same rules. Yesterday, a flight of Skyrangers, heading back towards Japan from a mission on Taiwan, was shadowed by Chinese fighters, meaning that pretty soon we will have to start using our fighters to escort the transports. Interceptions are also proving to be tough: the aliens have learned that we don't come too close to Chinese airspace and are using it as a safe haven for their UFOs".

"Commander", Illyuschenko looked and saw that Mr. Tamako, the Japanese councilman had his hand raised to pose a question. "Japan is fully aware of the significance of China's actions and the effect it poses on our economy. We have already put the question up to the UN's Security Council, but progress in the diplomatic front so far is close to nothing. Like you said, we have to put up a fully unified front and stop this acts of aggression".

Silence hang upon the room as every representative considered the words. Finally, the German envoy, a fat man with glasses and a hard face replied. "Mr. Tamako, we can't just declare war over China or have our countries present an ultimatum. This body is not qualified for that. We will simply have to ignore China for now and let each country deal with its own solution".

"Bah!" Illyuschenko turned at the Indian councilman. "Ridiculous! My country's intelligence services show that the Chinese have increased their contacts with Pakistan. If that country also falls under alien influence, enemies will surround India, each of them having nuclear weapons and being influenced by the aliens. Who knows what they may try next? While you westerners can talk and wait, we are about to have to really fight for our survival!"

Illyuschenko had long decided to keep himself out of such futile political discussions and waited until the meeting came to an end, occasionally replying to queries. The end result was about what he expected: X-Com was not a variable taken into account in the Chinese crisis. They would have to do their business alone, as it was getting frequent these days. 

May 7th, 2000

Sea of Japan

"Well it seems that we have left all the mess behind. Now it's only a couple of hours before we land on Singapore". The copilot nodded to the captain and relaxed on his chair, situated on the cockpit of a Boeing 757 on its way from Tokyo's international airport to the small state of Singapore. Last week had been particularly tense for all of the crews, as the media had picked up China's aggressive stands. Although no one thought that the Chinese would attack a civilian flight half-loaded with businessman, some precautions had been taken. The flight route had been changed to avoid the areas where the military reported airspace violations. While it would take a little more minutes to the usual arrival time, none of the passengers seemed to be complaining. The occupation rates of all flights in the area had dropped since the crisis had started and the passengers didn't seemed to mind the extra space or the reduced fares offered by JAL in order to attract costumers. Still, he wished that it all would be over soon, since the stock market was taking a dive, which had already been reeling from the economic depression. He had heavily invested on shares on the Tokyo Exchange Market most of his savings. And his wife was now bearing their second son and with him come the need to already start putting money away for the boy's education. 

The autopilot was taking care of all matters related to flying the jetliner, so he decided to take a look by the cockpit window. The Sun was already starting to come down on his right, turning the clouds pink and orange, with the dark waters of the Pacific reflecting the dimming light. Then something caught his attention on the right.

He thought first that it might be the reflection of one of the instrument's panel lights on the plexiglas window. But he soon saw that the yellow dot of light seemed to have a life of its own, accelerating and moving more to the center of the window. He thought if it might be another airliner but the altitude was wrong.  He decided to call the pilot's attention to it.

"Captain, I think there's another plane out there, but I can't seem to discern any navigational beacons". The pilot looked up from the cup of tea he was savoring. "Contact Manila's tower. See if they can tell us what it is".

The copilot reached for the radio and called for the air traffic controller in English. "Manila, this is JAL 007. I have an aircraft crossing over our flight path. Can you tell us what is it, over?"

The reply came after some seconds. "JAL 007, this is Manila. Our radar shows nothing. We are trying to contact it. Can you give us a bearing and altitude, over?"

"Bearing about one-six-zero. Altitude eight thousand meters. I can't tell the speed, but…"

"Look!" The voice of the pilot suddenly distracted him and he looked forward. Then he was amazed and puzzled at the same time. The light seemed to be gaining altitude fast. But how, since had never learned of any plane that could gain so much altitude in such a short notice? "What do you think it is Captain, a helicopter?"

The pilot kept staring at the yellow light. "Whatever it is, it must be military. It must belong to the Americans or Chinese, maybe some sort of…". He froze in the middle of the sentence and the co-pilot's eyes also widened as both crewman noticed that it seemed to be heading towards them. "Collision course! I'm taking the controls!", the pilot shouted as he moved his hands towards the instruments panel. Then all lights in the cockpit turned into black and the crewmen stopped hearing the jet engines. They stood immobile for a second, before trying to engage the emergency power generators, their arms moving across the control panels, desperately punching buttons and checking the circuits as no response came from the dead electrical system. One call from the chief hostess suddenly brought the pilot's eyes straight forward as he thought of something to calm down all the passengers and crew in the back and the last thing he saw was a green ball of light illuminating the cockpit.

UN Building, New York, US

China's former councilman to X-Com and now the representative to the Security Council just stood on his chair after hearing over the headphone the translation of the allegations made by the Japanese delegate to the United Nations about the destruction of the JAL airplane. 

"While the Chinese government deeply regrets the loss of human lives regarding today's crash in the sea of a civilian aircraft, we strongly deny that our military maneuvers were directly or indirectly related to this matter. Japan's allegations are baseless and also no proof has been presented to this body that any Chinese military aircraft was even near the area at the time of this incident. Moreover, we question the pertinence of such matters being brought up here and call for it to be dismissed from the agenda, implying that my country will veto any proposed action". He then looked around as the other representatives heard the translation of his speech, seeking for reactions.

The US, Russia, UK and France delegates gave him back hard looks, but their objections would be useless. He kept his poker face, giving an innocent façade, but more for the other nations who had no knowledge of X-Com's existence and only suspected the existence of the aliens. But on his mind he wondered what was going on. He had been briefed of the nature of the military maneuvers and how they had been designed to place political pressure over the area, to tell to China's neighbors about who they should be listening and following, not to mention to stall X-Com's efforts in the area. However he had never heard that the agreement with the aliens had ever implied the downing of civilian aircraft by their UFOs, with more than one hundred and fifty lives lost. Luckily no radar records of the UFO involved had been recorded nor was any Chinese planes in the area, so any accusations would only bring ridicule on the ones who placed them. But what were the aliens thinking of, when they had destroyed the plane?

He remembered the first time he had ever spoke to one of their leaders, back at the first landings, with one of the Sectoids he had heard before, when the first reports gathered by X-Com had reached the Council of Funding Nations. The conversation had been made through the use of a computer since the things couldn't replicate human speech. The lack of any emotions had been the most striking thing about them, even for a culture where constraint on relationships was highly valuated. But, in the middle of all the offers they had made and requests, this sort of action had never been mentioned. Had plans changed and nobody back at the Party decided to inform him?

May 8th, 2000

Northern New Mexico, United States

"Snakemen! Two on the right!" Hopkins heard the warning of his point man as he moved down the ramp of the Skyranger. Beta squad had been assigned the right flank on the landing to retrieve a medium scout that had been downed some hours before over a desert area in New Mexico. The tank that they had brought had been the first off the plane, but two solid plasma hits from the aliens had reduced it to a charred hulk, when it had moved less than two feet from the ramp. Hopkins just wished that some of the aliens had died in the crash. Or that the Captain had been wiser and brought an extra squad, instead of the piece of junk that now blocked the way, making him to have to jump off the ramp at the height of one foot and hit the ground for cover. Well, at least tanks were easily replaceable, while men were not, he considered for a second. He wondered how the other side was doing, since a plasma bolt had already sizzled over him from that direction, but decided to deal with the Snakemen on this side first.

It was noon and the Sun was blazing overhead, starting to make him sweat on his power suit. The ground before him was mostly dry lands, composed of dust and dirt, with few vegetation or any natural features to give them or the aliens any cover. The remaining man behind him fired off a three salvo from his laser rifle and also went for cover. He saw one of the orange aliens being hit on the torso but not coming down, like a Floater or Sectoid usually would. Time to get the heavier stuff going.

The two aliens were using the wreckage of the UFO for protection, hiding behind the walls that were still standing. The craft had probably hit the ground before coming to a stop, since the side facing Hopkins was completely ripped off, leaving only shards of alien alloys on the top and bottom. A hit from Levine's heavy laser decapitated one of the Snakemen, which went to the ground squirting green blood from what would be the neck of the alien.

The second alien fired back at Sharpe, who was now moving away from the Skyranger, trying to get some cover. The squaddie took it on the arm and went down with a moan. But the second afterwards, two shots from a three-salvo burst from Hopkins's heavy plasma, brought it down, making a gargled hiss as it felt on the metal floor of the UFO.

Ten minutes afterwards it was all over and the two remaining aliens had been killed. As the X-Com team moved inside the UFO, they discovered that the majority of its crew hadn't survived the crash, with the bodies being completely smashed against the metal walls. Unfortunately, that also meant that there was no Elerium or alien machinery to be recovered, since it all had been destroyed when the UFO hit the ground. Hopkins moved away from the UFO and approached Captain Jerrel, who had been reporting the confrontation to Major Patterson back at Area 51. Sharpe and another trooper from Delta who had also been hit were being taken care of by other soldiers. Fortunately the power suits had managed to protect the human bodies inside them and the injuries were light. Hopkins removed his helmet and turned to the officer. 

"Captain, the only reptiles left in the area are lizards and snakes. Are we going to hang around and wait for the retrieval team or are we leaving soon?"

The officer nodded to him and replied. "We are getting out of here. Found anything interesting inside that thing?"

The Sarge made some calculations and answered back. "We found inside another three heavy plasmas and ammunition clips for them, plus a couple grenades. There was also another one of that strange weapon that the science boys have yet to find what is it good for". He raised his arm and showed the alien device he had recovered from the UFO. It was some sort of small weapon, since had a trigger and a muzzle. However it had strange green and gray bulges over the barrel and the ammunition seemed to be small purple balls. Since the aliens hardly had used it in battle, no one over the science branch had worried much about finding out what it was used for. There were other projects far more important than going over a gizmo that didn't seem to have any tactical purpose. 

"That is one ugly thing piece of hardware. What you think they use it for, Gunny?" Hopkins looked down at the weapon on his armored hands and shrugged, his white metal shoulders slightly moving upwards. "Dunno. It's a launcher of some sort, but for what they use it I couldn't care less, since it doesn't launch grenades. Probably it's as useless in fighting as those metal balls we have recovered before".

"Yeah, my thoughts also". The Captain looked around. "Let's get out of this hole. Second platoon has just been called to retrieve another UFO that has landed close to this area. I hope they are luckier than us". Hopkins nodded and started recalling the troops over the radio. 

Virginia, United States

 "The Chinese representative to the United Nations has denied yesterday that his country's recent military maneuvers were the cause of the mysterious crash of Japanese Airlines (JAL) flight 007. The Boeing 757 had crashed hours before on the Pacific Ocean due to unknown causes, with the loss of its 157 crew and passengers. 

Speaking on an extraordinary session of the UN's Security Council, Mr. Bai strongly rejected the charges brought by Japan's to that body that Chinese fighter patrols had been in the vicinity of the area when the accident occurred. China has also stated its determination to continue with the military maneuvers which started five days ago and that are proving to be a major disestablishing factor in the region.

White House officials have downplayed the consequences of China's actions but have stated that US combat forces in the area will be ready to defend US interests and protect friendly nations in the area. Interrogated if the US would act upon a possible invasion of Taiwan, Secretary of Defense Edward Polk has confirmed that this administration will stand by the treaties signed with Japan and other nations in the area. According to the Pentagon, all US forces in Japan and South Korea have been mobilized, with all leaves cancelled. However, Polk has stated that US aircraft will avoid any unnecessary flights into the area to reduce the risk of an armed incident". 

Williams stopped reading the _Washington Post_ and scratched his brow, wondering if the whole situation would defuse itself in the next days or if World War III was about to start. He had been lucky to take a few hours off and drive home to have a shower and a good night sleep, although his cellular phone was connected the whole time, in case any other incident would occur. The Chinese bastard was right though as they could tell. The last radio transmission from the 757 had reported a strange light flying close to the aircraft and X-Com's Japanese Command was monitoring an increase on UFO detections in the area. The aliens had, in almost no doubt downed the civilian aircraft, the only question was if the Chinese knew beforehand of their intentions. But what would they want with this whole matter? Invade Taiwan and sent a message to other countries such as Japan? Simply shown off their new military power to enforce more pressure on the surrounding nations? And what about the aliens? Was this all just to help the Chinese or did they had more sinister motives; such as starting World War III and let the humans kill one another? Already the whole matter had brought a severe restraint upon Complex YY-18's ability to respond to UFO incursions outside Japan. The whole thing about the organization was that it was supposed to be a covert one, and flying unidentified planes over a highly volatile area didn't help matters a bit. 

"Daddy! Daddy! Do aliens exist?" Williams lifted his eyes from the paper he was reading and saw that his eight-year old David was looking at him, holding on his hands a toy close to a Sectoid. He wondered how the kid had gotten the toy and looked over to his wife, Betty, who simply shrugged and quickly decided that there was something needed to be done upstairs.

At their age, the kids knew that their dad worked for the federal government and nothing else. They were still too young to understand why he just couldn't talk about work, but in this case it was a very different matter. Telling his son to sit close to him on the sofa, he took the toy from his hands and examined it first. It had clearly the features of a Sectoid, although Williams also saw that the designer most likely had used a crappy photograph or drawing, not likely that he had actually saw a live one and survived.

"Well, do aliens exist?"

"David, where have you heard that?"

"All the kids at school were talking about it the other day. Junior said his dad told him that they came from other planets and that they want to control us". 

Oh boy, Williams told to himself, where and how do I start? "David, think of all of the universe. Now there are millions of stars like there, just like the Sun, and some of them there might be planets, and one, just one, might be like Earth and possess intelligent life".

"So there are aliens!"

"There might be aliens, but we might also never know. They might be too far away. We might never get there or they here".

"But Junior says the aliens are already here! And a lot of other kids believe it too. Why are they here dad? What they want from us?" A note of fear appeared on his son's voice.

"David, don't worry. If by any chance they are here I'm sure that we have nothing to fear from them". Williams only hoped that his son couldn't detect the lie. 

"But what do they want from us? Junior says they are like Independence Day: they want to conquer us and make us their slaves". Oh boy, Williams sighed as he tried to come up with an explanation, looking by the posture of his son that he wanted an answer. 

"David, if the aliens really exist then someone probably is trying to understand them. And, you know, maybe they are peaceful and only want to be friends with us. Maybe they are just watching, trying to find out what we are like". Williams hoped that the lie would take satisfy his son's doubts.

The face of David became clouded with puzzlement. "But they could also be coming here to conquer us, couldn't they?" 

"Yes, they might, but we shouldn't worry about that".

Wrong answer. "But if they are, do we use like ray guns on them? Can I have a ray gun too dad?"

"I will have to talk to your mother about that. Meanwhile, have you done your homework yet David?" The youngster quickly made himself invisible, which had been Williams' intention all along to put an end to the discussion. 

May 10th, 2000

Complex YY-18, Japan

"What?" Yamashita was sure feeling tired after a whole week full of false alerts, as the Chinese aircraft kept approaching Japanese airspace, only to turn back as the interceptors went after them. The radar technician looked back at him, but wasn't appalled by his superior's attitude. "Sir, the JSDAF detected a single contact approaching the ADIZ some minutes ago". 

Yamashita blinked his eyes, trying to ignore that he had only been able to sleep for two hours after being awaken again and apparently for no good reason. "More of those damned Chinese? I'd better have a word with them to discuss air defense protocols after this whole mess has calmed down". The man at the console, a youngster on his twenties, cut him off. "Sir, the single contact has broken up into four different ones! All of them with flight patterns and radar tracks of UFOs, one a large scout, another of their terror ships and two that we never have seen before!"

Yamashita fully awoke. "Sound general alarm. First and Second Platoons ready to deploy. Launch the F-22s at once". He paused, thinking of what the aliens might be up to this time: a terror attack? An aerial confrontation? "What is their heading?" The technician looked now in terror. "Honshu, sir! They are going to be over us in 25 minutes and counting!"

Twenty minutes later, Yamashita was standing in the hangar closest to the command center, looking at the Skyranger who was using its jet engines to elevate itself through the now opened steel doors of the roof. The plane, together with the two other Skyrangers who were lifting from other hangars, was crowded with all the non-combat personnel it could hold. It had been confirmed: all of the UFOs would be over Complex YY-18 in a question of minutes, in no doubt making an assault at the base, since there was no other target around for miles.

A trooper wearing a power suit and with the bars of a Captain approached him, carrying a plasma rifle on his hands and moving through the remaining technicians who were now heading to the southern doors, on their way to the unfinished workshops at the east of the base. "Colonel, First and Second platoons have deployed as you ordered sir". We have the corridor leading to the main airlock secured, with the First standing on the sides and the Second at the central hangar, ready to blast any aliens that came through it". Yamashita reminded himself of the base's disposition: the base had been build underground, around the hangars, four of them making a perfect square, with a fifth one on the center. Four main corridors connected the edges, while an additional number linked the central hangar to the middle of the exterior passageways. The base's entrance consisted of a chamber linked to the surface by elevators, outside the southern side of the square, and connected to the corridor in that section of the base by another one. On the paper it looked good: if any enemy tried to invade the base, the defenders could simply cut them into pieces since the area around the airlock was void of any other facilities that could provide cover for the attackers. They only needed to hold the southern intersection to stop the aliens. "What about the third?"

"They are still in the armory, getting into their power suits". Yamashita grimaced, because he didn't had time to get himself fully equipped. The armory was located in the southwest area, while the command center was on the northeast. He had only time to get to his quarters to put on his personal armor, made of alien alloys, and grab a plasma pistol and his katana. "As soon as they get ready, place individual squads on the hangars to provide a second line of defense, in case we need it". He was about to dismiss the officer and go back to the command center, when something come up his mind. "How many aliens do we have on the containment unit?"

The captain's face, visible because the face visor was still up almost hid completely the confusion on his thoughts. "Eight, sir. Three Sectoids, one Snakemen and four Floaters. I have one of the base security platoons there watching over them". 

"Tell them to kill them all. We can't risk that they might take the opportunity to get loose. Dismissed!" Yamashita then dashed to the command center. 

Lieutenant Kanawe and the other three men of Second Squad, Second Platoon were in position in the hangar, all around the southern door, whose massive steel doors were now closed. But as soon as Captain Ichiko, who was standing outside the doors with five other troopers, all in cover, gave them the call, they would open the doors and pour fire down the corridor, in the direction of the airlock. He looked at the HWP directly in front of the door: it was equipped with rocket launchers and those would soon wreck havoc on any aliens that dared to cross the corridor between the hangar and the airlock. 

When Yamashita reached his command chair, the transparent monitor made of liquid crystals in front of him turned active, hiding the other stations in front of him. The face of Councilman Tamako showed concern, but also a deep calm. "Colonel, I've been briefed already of the situation and I'm in direct contact with the Prime-Minister, in case we can offer you any help. But I shall distract you no more. Good luck".

Yamashita nodded and looked to his side. A lieutenant close by him and wearing a radio set simply spoke. "The HAWK batteries are ready and have tracked the target". The young officer saw the nod and simply spoke: "Firing now!"

Close to the command center, two missile launchers, each holding twin racks rose up from their concealed positions underground, standing in the middle of a small plain, and swiveled to the direction of the UFOs. After a brief second, as the computer supplied the guidance systems inside of them with the necessary information, the first surface to air ignited its engine and shot away towards the UFOs. The remaining three missiles followed thereafter.

"By the seven hells!" Someone in the room spoke what Yamashita was thinking now. The cameras outside had spotted the enemy flight and had zoomed on it. Two of the incoming UFOs were the largest ever recorded by X-Com, dwarfing the large scout that accompanied them. Circular in size, they seemed to have several levels, and on their bottom they had massive pylons, in no doubt to support them while landed. The first missile hit the one on the left, exploding in a fireball that covered the front of the craft. The other three quickly followed, enlarging the explosion, but the second afterwards, all of the UFOs kept in their course, heading towards Complex YY-18. Only the large scout seemed to be experiencing trouble, as it wobbled in the air, instead of keep a straight course. "Alert all troops. Here they come!"

When one of the UFOs landed on the ground in top of the hangar with a thump, Kanawe looked upwards in surprise, but quickly got his mind back into the radio, waiting for the orders from Ichiko. But after some seconds a huge roar from above made him look back again. However, he was unable to see anything as the light and noise from an explosion above him clicked the light and noise suppressors on his helmet, making him blind and deaf for some seconds.

Outside the central hangar, Captain Ichiko also heard the explosion and wondered what had just gone inside. Standing inside a small room on the side of the corridor he raised his arm as he tried to call the other squad on the radio. "Kanawe, what is going on there? Kanawe! Anyone there answer me!"

The only response he had was from one of his own men. "Captain! They are coming!" Grabbing with his free hand the entrance, Ichiko put his head outside the corridor and looked: more than hundred yards away, the doors leading into the elevators to the surface were open. And three humanoid figures, each one taller than the average human, had just stepped out, all carrying plasma weapons. Ichiko stopped bothering with the radio and ordered his men to fire. 

The first explosions had put everyone inside the control room in a frantic state, with everyone trying to understand what had just happened. Yamashita and the others were trying to raise anyone on the radio to make a report, but the distant sound of gunfire fire and explosions was the only response that came to them. Suddenly the lieutenant close to Yamashita froze in his place. "Colonel! Better came and see this quick!"

Yamashita rose from his chair and moved to his side. An image, identified as live feed from a camera located on the SE hangar showed light coming through the ceiling and dark humanoid figures moving in the middle of smoke, only pausing to raise their weapons and shoot, presumably at the members of the squad from Third platoon who had been deployed there. "They have broken through the hangar doors!" But what aliens was he seeing?

The doors behind him suddenly opened and Yamashita turned around to look. Standing on the entrance to the control room was an alien he had never seen, his head almost touching the upper edge of the entrance. Massive and well-defined muscles stood out from his chest, arms and legs, the contours visible underneath the tight dark green suit he was wearing. The garment also covered all of his head, except for the face, which was bare. The alien's eyes were dark, with a strange white for an iris and he had no ears or nose to be seen. All in the control room stood looking at the strange figure for a second, as it looked around the room for a brief second, before pointing the heavy plasma it was carrying to their direction.  

On the central hangar, as soon as Kanawe regained his consciousness, he found that he was on the ground close to the smoking remains of the HWP. The area was full of smoke and a fuel drum exploded on the opposite side of his position. A green alien was standing with his back turned to him and using a heavy plasma to demolish the walls of a storage room that the remainder of his squad was using to cover. He noticed that his heavy laser had dropped out of his hands and, picking it up in a swift motion, he quickly pointed it to the alien and fired a couple of shots that hit the humanoid on his back. Kanawe's hairs went up as the figure arched itself backwards and released a high pitch, savage scream.

Kanawe thought the green monster thing would drop to the ground. But instead it quickly started to turn to his direction, the black pupils seeking the cause its tormentor in a predatorial gaze. The first plasma shot passed under Kanawe's right arm, missing by a small margin. The second hit the side of the lieutenant, filling the side of his belly with a fierce burning sensation of pain that almost made him black out. He still managed to hold his weapon though and fired it back again in a reflexive action, without worrying about taking aim. A grenade blew to his left at the same time, projecting him back to the metal grating on the floor again, but he still managed to see the alien accompanying him to the ground, where it stayed immobile. Kanawe then looked to his belly. The plasma had cut through the armor, leaving a blackened section where red blood could be seen pouring out. Not good, he considered to himself.

On the control center, the first shot from the strange alien missed Yamashita by a hair. However he heard the sound of the technician close to him crashing down over the console. He immediately threw himself to the side, the second blast hitting the electronic screen and exploding it, but Yamashita didn't bother to look. Holding his katana sword still on his sheath, he rolled over on the floor close to the extraterrestrial, taking advantage that the alien was busy with the two security guards. As the Colonel was moving, the green figure simply took turned to each one in turn and killed them, taking no notice of the full laser salvos that it was receiving on its torso, which left only a couple of burn marks on the green jumpsuit it was wearing. A series of gunshots was also heard. One of the officers had drawn his sidearm and was firing back at the alien, holding a semiautomatic pistol in both his hands. The X-Com's trooper aim was good, but worthless. Yamashita clearly saw the bullets ricocheting off the alien's body and he even felt one hitting his armor, but failing to penetrate it as he got himself upwards after a second ground roll that put him less than three feet from it. As Yamashita finally got up, his right hand moved to the hilt of the sword and, as he draw it out, the blade slashed through the alien's arm that was holding the plasma weapon in an upward movement.

The X-Com Colonel felt the sharpened steel cutting through the arm but the slicing movement was abruptly cut off, taking him out of balance and preventing him from completing the movement. Two things happened in quick succession: the sound of the alien's pain as the blade cut through his forearm and stopped upon reaching the bone, failing to cut through it, and in the moment afterward a rock punch to his side left Yamashita almost out of breath. Staggering backwards he saw the alien closing its pupils while the powerful muscles on its jaws contracted in pain and it clenched its teeth. Trying to breathe at the same time, Yamashita took out the plasma pistol from the holster on his belt and fired immediately. It took half a dozen shots before the alien finally died screaming.

On the main corridor to the airlock, Captain Ichiko's squad was barely holding the invaders at bay. The aliens had already reached the intersection but the squads who were supposed to prevent them from taking cover where notoriously absent. Still, several of the unknown aliens had already been dropped to the ground, but their sheer numbers meant that it was a matter of time before they would be overwhelmed. Ichiko brought his heavy plasma through the door of the room where he was hiding and fired back down the corridor again. Two of his shots hit a humanoid figure that was trying to reach the safety of the intersection, dropping him to the ground. Only the heavy stuff seemed to be able to bring these aliens down. A close by plasma blast made him lower his head but he still kept it pointed down the corridor. Then he started to hear an increasing whining sound and he wondered if the aliens were using some kind of electronic interference on the radio channel. However looking forward, he was amazed as he saw something suddenly flying out of the left corridor on the intersection and make a ninety degree turn on the air, before speeding off at an incredible speed on his direction. His instinct immediately made him take a couple of steps backwards, but the last thing he saw on his life was a silvered ball come to a stop fully suspended on the air by an unseen force and head towards him, before releasing the immense force of the Elerium warhead it carried in a massive explosion that vaporized the X-Com officer and the room where he was standing.

Back on the command center, the sound of that explosion was hardly noticed as another of the green Herculean aliens jumped inside the room. However, this time the personnel in the area was prepared, with Yamashita exchanging his pistol for the heavier plasma that the first alien was carrying and scoring a second kill in a well thought ambush that brought it down five seconds after it entered. Standing by the corpse of the extraterrestrial, he looked down the corridor leading down into the nearest hangar. It seemed empty of enemy troops, so he turned around to check the status of his troops. Several troopers and support personnel had been immediately killed by the plasma blasts, since they didn't had any armor protection. The surviving personnel were busy moving their burned bodies to a corner, underneath a staircase. There was no time to deal with them now and Yamashita tried to check the status of the other sectors on the base. But as soon as he reached the woman on the radio, a deep rumble came from the depths of the base and both of them feared the most for a second. 

When the radio on Kanawe's helmet became alive with the voice of the Colonel, he let out a short breath and moved away from the remains of the hangar's southern doors and to a safer position, in spite of the burning on his stomach. The bleeding had been contained through the use of a medikit, but he was only still conscious because he had been applied with heavy doses of stimulants and pain relievers. Looking down the landing pad, with parts lit up from the sunlight coming from the holes the aliens had cut to come through the ceiling, he saw the bodies of the four aliens who had almost succeeded in killing his whole squad, of which he was the only survivor. He also saw one of the troopers that had managed to bring him behind a mangled forklift, from where both of them had managed to defeat the aliens, his limp and dead body seated on the floor against the wall, on where the plasma fire from the final alien had took him down.

"Command, this is Lieutenant Kanawe on the central hangar. Captain Ichiko has been killed and we need reinforcements to prevent them from advancing more in the main corridor. Half the platoon is down, together with the HWP and we have several wounded". 

"Kanawe, hold on as much as you can. Any word from the south-west hangar?"

"I had someone check the source of an explosion a while ago. The trooper says the western corridor is completely blocked by rubble in the middle. The aliens must have accidentally hit the ammunition stores on that area, sir". He brought down his head. There was still at least a squad of Third Platoon in the hangar at the time of the explosion.

The news from central hangar weren't pleasing at all to hear, but to Yamashita they gave him hope. The western area had been secured, with the security squad detached there reporting that they had killed all the aliens in the containment facility and that there had been no breaches on the hangar. On both eastern hangars there was reports of heavy fighting but the aliens had failed to reach the hallway that would have placed them right on the backs of the troops defending the central corridor. Grabbing the heavy plasma from the chair he had set it upon, he immediately headed out of the command center, with nearly a dozen men and women following him and wearing every weapon they could place their hands on. 

May 16th, 2000

Area 51, Nevada, US

The main runway of Groom Lake was completely dark, covered under the darkness of a night with no Moon and a heavy cloud cover that hid the stars and also the prying eyes of any satellite or UFO that might be passing by the facility at that moment. But the low whining sound of a hangar's doors being opened could be heard, although all the overhead lights of the building had been turned off, leaving only a couple of ground lights that showed only dark shapes inside the hangar.

A small circular silhouette was discernible to Illyuschenko, sitting on top of the back area of a lowered truck, the edges standing out of the sides. He was from the view ports of a reinforced concrete bunker, together with a small group of people, some of them using night vision binoculars for better vision. Human figures were around it, accompanying the small trailer to a clear area outside the hangar, where the mover finally stopped its slow march. After making the final preparations, the technicians quickly departed and left the safety area. If anything went wrong, no one wanted to be close to an Elerium explosion.

A turning red light finally went on, telling everyone that the test would soon be underway and only then Illyuschenko brought to his eyes the binoculars that were hanging from his neck. _If this works, the aliens will sure be surprised in a couple of months!_ And they needed it: the new alien race used on the raid against Complex YY-18 had taken away the advantage X-Com was experiencing on ground combat through the use of the power suits and heavy plasmas. The green monsters had been bred for combat, with a toughened bullet proof skin that even depleted uranium had problems piercing and other surgically implanted devices that made them the strongest and hardest adversaries they had squared with. 

X-Com's progress report for this month seemed to be good: the end of the Chinese crisis had cooled off the Council and Japan had already offered financial aid to help rebuild Complex YY-18, which had suffered major damage after the alien attack. A lot of replacements for the heavy casualties were needed, but Colonel Yamashita had immediately set upon bringing has much teams as possible back into operational status. After a low warning beep a female voice started a countdown. 

This was X-Com's closest guarded secret until now, but it would have mean nothing without the recently built workshops at the Japanese base that hadn't been touched by the attack. X-Com had now a finally a decent manufacturing capability of their own, allowing them to reduce their dependence on the good will of the funding nations to give them the hardware they needed to fight the alien war. _And soon, pretty soon, the assembly lines will be producing a larger model of that. If all the money and research Dr. Chevereux put on this pays off, I actually may start to like the French bastard!_ The countdown reached zero.

Immediately after that moment, Illyuschenko's focused on the circular shape, but it stayed immobile. Then, slowly, so slowly that at first the movement wasn't discernible, it elevated itself out of the trailer and into the air. Only ten feet in diameter, it moved then to the right of the bunker until finally stopping fifty feet above the runway. Illyuschenko noticed that it had a landing tripod, and it used it to come to a stop on the runway, after a slow descent.

At that moment every scientist present in the bunker started cheering and applauding and Illyuschenko also smiled, although that thing wasn't quite the new fighter craft he had been promised many months ago by the Research Bureau of X-Com. The lights on the bunker went back on and he moved through the happy group until he reached Dr. Chevereux, who was happily talking to Dr. Mantell and another scientist Illyuschenko couldn't identify, but that he noticed it had peculiar facial expressions.

"Doctor, congratulations. I take everything went as you planned?" The chief of X-Com's research turned to Illyuschenko and his smile became smaller, seeing the stern face of the General, but he still kept it on.

"Oui, commander. We have just successfully tested our first craft built using the propulsion and navigation principles the alien UFOs. Now, Drs. Mantell and Young will perform aero dynamical test flights and then we can think of building a craft with actual pilots inside it, instead of being radio controlled like this one". He looked at the other scientists who just nodded while smiling.

Illyuschenko kept a neutral tone. " I take that you have seen the footage of the Battleships the aliens have started using? I need a craft fully capable of going against those things and as soon as possible. Our conventional fighters are no match for them. The Japanese Air Force tried and lost a full squadron of F-15s".

Shaking his head, Dr. Mantell replied. "Commander, I understand the urgency, but it will take time. First we need to develop a small manned fighter and the weapons to equip it, to finish developing and testing this technology. We simply can't step right into building something of that size immediately. I have been part of the team that developed the stealth planes and know what I'm talking about. First something smaller, like the F-117, but reliable. Only then can we go developing the bigger stuff, like the equivalent of a B-2. But I can assure you that everything is on the right track, sir. Already the team back at Mother One has started using their work on plasma weapons to develop a sort of cannon to equip that fighter. And when that happens, few UFOs will be able to stand off against the Firestorm, sir".

"Firestorm?" Illyuschenko hadn't read anything with that name on the briefing.

"Someone proposed the name a couple of days ago and it seems popular. I can show you the concept papers tomorrow and the work we have already put into the blueprints". Illyuschenko still didn't like how much time this whole affair would take, but was less unpleased. He nodded to the scientists and, excusing himself, left the bunker, deciding to conduct an unscheduled base attack exercise to see how well Area 51 was briefed and prepared.

André Galvão, 2001 


	19. Premonitions

X-Com – The Unknown Menace

Chapter Eighteen – Premonitions

RAAF Captures Flying Saucer On Ranch in Roswell Region 

No Details of Flying Disk Are Revealed 

Roswell Hardware Man and Wife Report Disk Seen 

The intelligence office of the 509th Bombardment group at Roswell Army Field announced at noon today, that the field has come into possession of a flying saucer. 

According to information released by the department, over authority of Maj. J. A. Marcel, intelligence officer, the disk was recovered on a ranch in the Roswell vicinity, after an unidentified rancher had notified Sheriff Geo. Wilcox, here, that he had found the instrument on his premises. 

Major Marcel and a detail from his department went to the ranch and recovered the disk, it was stated. 

After the intelligence officer here had inspected the instrument it was flown to higher headquarters. 

The intelligence office stated that no details of the saucer's construction or its appearance had been revealed. 

Mr. and Mrs. Dan Wilmot apparently were the only persons in Roswell who seen what they thought was a flying disk. 

They were sitting on their porch at 105 South Penn. last Wednesday night at about ten o'clock when a large glowing object zoomed out of the sky from the southeast, going in a northwesterly direction at a high rate of speed. 

Wilmot called Mrs. Wilmot's attention to it and both ran down into the yard to watch. It was in sight less then a minute, perhaps 40 or 50 seconds, Wilmot estimated. 

Wilmot said that it appeared to him to be about 1,500 feet high and going fast. He estimated between 400 and 500 miles per hour. 

In appearance it looked oval in shape like two inverted saucers, faced mouth to mouth, or like two old type washbowls placed, together in the same fashion. The entire body glowed as though light were showing through from inside, though not like it would inside, though not like it would be if a light were merely underneath. 

From where he stood Wilmot said that the object looked to be about 5 feet in size, and making allowance for the distance it was from town he figured that it must have been 15 to 20 feet in diameter, though this was just a guess. 

Wilmot said that he heard no sound but that Mrs. Wilmot said she heard a swishing sound for a very short time. 

The object came into view from the southeast and disappeared over the treetops in the general vicinity of six-mile hill. 

Wilmot, who is one of the most respected and reliable citizens in town, kept the story to himself hoping that someone else would come out and tell about having seen one, but finally today decided that he would go ahead and tell about it. The announcement that the RAAF was in possession of one came only a few minutes after he decided to release the details of what he had seen.

- _Roswell Daily Record, July 8th, 1947_

June 6th, 2000

Area 51, Nevada, US

As Lt. Colonel Harris had finished stepping down the ladder the technicians had placed near the cockpit of his F-22, he looked at the plane to check the damage of the dogfight he had just been in. The left wingtip of the advanced fighter had been brushed off by a plasma round fired by the alien large scout he had just downed over Idaho, but besides the nasty look of the wing there seemed to be no other damage.

One of the sergeants assigned to the base's combat support group, wearing a Chi Greek letter on the left breast of his coveralls was also assessing the damage. He cocked his head from one side to the other and simply spoke in a mixture of relief and frustration: "At least there's no damage to the main body, sir. We should be able to get it fixed in no time". Harris turned to him, but the man had already gotten to his work, moving to the offices located in one corner of the massive hangar where the F-22 was standing.

Close to him, Captain Clark had just parked his F-22 and had also gotten off his plane, still holding his helmet on one hand and raking his curly hair with the other. He had managed to hit the UFO with a Phoenix before Harris had stepped in and finished off the alien craft with Amraam missiles. By tomorrow both their planes would sport another half-UFO painted on the fuselage under the cockpit, as both pilots would share the credit for the kill.  But Harris didn't really care about personal tallies, although he had already made ace several times and had the highest UFO kill list inside X-Com, and in the world for that matter.

Clark come up to him and spoke. "Fancy flying up there, Harris. I never had seen anyone launch an Amraam on such a tight turn and actually hit the bogey. You should tell it to the Air Force and the manufacturers of the missile, although I'm not sure they would quite believe it". Harris simply shrugged his shoulders and replied: "I wouldn't allow that bastard to gain speed and outrun us". Clark just looked at him, waiting for more, but as he saw the other pilot head out the hangar towards the pilot's area he just joined him and said nothing else. 

As both pilots got out of the hangar, they blinked their eyes because of the high desert sun and unzipped their flight suits. Clark stopped and checked his pockets for his dark glasses. Finding them, he put them on and noticed that Harris had also stopped his march. But, unlike him, he was just looking to another direction, completely immobile. Turning his head to the right he saw what Harris was staring at. On the hangar next to them, a black nose tip was visible through the half-closed doors, in no doubt belonging to a plane.

Then, as the other pilot started heading towards it, Clark wondered what was so special about it and decided to follow him, trying to keep with his pace. They both stopped by the doors and Clark was astonished. A large plane painted in glossy black stood in the middle of the building, but nothing that he had ever seen on his life. It had a sleek fuselage, with an elliptical main body where a delta wing was attached. Twin tails stood out at his end, and the engine nacelles were located on the belly of the aircraft, in the back. It was apparently going through some maintenance procedure. The cockpit was open; with fiber optic cables going inside, and several plates on the body had been removed, revealing electronic equipment and empty space.

"Whoa! What is that?" The words immediately came out of his mouth before he realized his amazement. This plane had to be the ultimate flying machine, capable of going to space and back. Harris' dry voice came with a heavy-filled reply: "The Aurora".

"You mean "the" Aurora? The secret plane that was shot down by a UFO?" When realization of the whole incident came to Clark's mind his attention was immediately turned into the other pilot's expression. The face was completely cold and the scars that marked Harris face and neck looked bluer, as if it had suddenly been drained out of blood. And on the contrary, his eyes seemed locked into some deep anger inside, making Clark step back. "Gezz, sorry! I wasn't meaning to…." Harris deep but now relaxed gaze, made him stop in the middle of the sentence.

Hearing footsteps close to them, both men turned and saw a civilian woman approaching them. She had the white coveralls and the security card she was wearing marked her as a member of the Scientific Bureau, but Clark didn't recognize her. In fact, he knew that for certain since he had long taken a deep inspection of all the base's available female personnel. And this blonde woman, a little shorter than him, had never been on his gunfights. But Clark's initial hopes to get on a date with her were shattered by the annoyed look on her blue eyes.

"Can I help you officers? If not I will ask you to leave" She had quite an interesting accent, German, he wondered? Harris simply asked: "Are you testing the installation of weapons on it?" Her somewhat neutral expression suddenly went into full afterburner. "Wunderbar! Good security protocols here! Tell me, does the base already know, mister…"

"Harris, Lt. Colonel Andrew Harris, m'am". Clark hastily added: "And Captain Clark, here, miss…" She didn't even bothered to look at him as her next words came out in shock. "Doctor…. Johannes. Lt. Colonel, I think Colonel Johnson is better to inform you on why we have the Aurora here. I'm…just…." 

"Thank you Doctor. I will not take anymore of your time". He gave her a short salute and left and, after standing there for a second she also left leaving Clark looking from one side to the other, without knowing here to turn. He saw the scientist getting back to work on some bench table while Harris seemed to be heading towards the command section of the base, instead of the aircrew area. Clark decided that the day had been too rough already and went back to his quarters to first get a hot shower before debriefing.

Five minutes later, Johnson was on his office, taking no casualties in his daily conflict with paperwork and red tape. Since the whole X-Com operation was classified above top secret, he had to find ways to have the base up and running, which fake companies to order the most basic supplies, from the mess chow the toilet paper. Fortunately, he had a couple of former CIA officers that performed miracles on that area, but he still had to check and sign the forms. When the knock on the door came he was actually relieved for a minute to get away from all the bureaucracy, but his satisfaction quickly disappeared as he saw Harris walking inside and requesting to speak to him.

Most likely he already knew about the new bird in the nest, so he decided to deal with the whole thing right away. "Sure Harris. Why don't you take a seat?" The other officer stood in attention, not bothering to take one of the chairs Johnson had in front of him. 

"No thank you sir. Colonel, if you forgive my straightness, I've seen an Aurora on one of the hangars. Do you mind telling me what is it doing here?" Johnson shifted uneasily on the chair. He had seen the latest psychological assessment made on Harris, and the base shrinks couldn't be sure if the man was stable or could go down the ropes at any minor incident.

"Field tests, Harris. The Scientific Bureau is developing laser and plasma weapons for fighter planes, but they want to try them out specifically on the Aurora. The military had one of the prototypes laying around so they let us have it". Harris nodded. "And where do I fit in that picture?" 

Johnson hadn't had time to figure that one out yet. "Well, I don't know yet. You are the only one here who has ever flown that thing and you are the logical choice for test pilot. On the other hand, you are a damn good fighter pilot and this job means no combat for you for a while. President Winston had to put up with a lot of opposition from the Pentagon for lending us. I'm going to return it to them without much of a scratch". 

Harris thought for a second. "You are leaving it to me to decide, sir?"

Johnson exhaled. "I have already decided, Harris, if you agree with it. You will be assigned for the next week to fly the Aurora, unless you choose not to. But remember this: if you accept being a test pilot again, that means no going after any alien ship that you encounter. The data from the flights is crucial for us to develop advanced air-to-air weapons. That is your mission".

He simply nodded. "Fair enough, I'll see you later, sir". After throwing a quick salute, Harris left and Johnson decided not to think more about it, as he looked at the pile of paperwork in front of him. 

July 9th, 1947

Roswell Army Air Field, New Mexico, United States

The C-47 Dakota transport plane had just came to a full stop on the tarmac as the rear passenger door opened and the brightness of the lights inside contrasted with the darkness of the late hour of the night. A private got out a small metal ladder and, as he stepped to the side two men, one in uniform and another in civilian clothing went down the stairs and boarded a jeep that was waiting for them.

The driver immediately started the engine and drove down a flight line of darkened planes, all having four engines and a myriad of bumps over and under the fuselage. Each plane had its own dispersal area, surrounded by walls of sand bags and in some cases heavy armed troopers were deployed around the plane. The civilian looked at them in curiosity and turned to his companion to ask in deeply accentuated English: "B-29s? The same type that dropped the bombs over Japan? If we had this, you would never be able to defeat us in Europe".

The other man, a young Major that had the left side of his coat filled with campaign and medal ribbons, didn't bother to answer. In fact he couldn't even say anything about the base where they had just landed, since it was the U.S.' top military asset: the 509th Bombardment Group, the only outfit in the world to be equipped with atomic weapons. And it was the center of all the mess that had just appeared and that they both had been sent to resolve.

The civilian realized his unwillingness to talk about the matter or the facility, so he just shot back. "Don't worry Major. After all I live in a golden prison isn't that right? Where could I go and reveal all that I've seen and gave you so far? The Soviet Union?"

The Major gave him a stern look, his hand casually dropping to the belt and the sidearm he carried there. "Doctor, you are only here on an advisory basis, is that understood? You are not allowed to go wondering without escort or discuss anything that you might think you saw with anyone". The scientist simply looked back and went to his coat pockets to find a cigarette. Finding one and after asking the driver for a light, he sat back on his seat as the jeep moved towards a low sand painted building.

The meeting took place on the base commander's office, although his presence wasn't required or even desirable for any of the four men who were present on it. The two recent arrivals were led until the room, where they met two other officers, an Army Colonel with slick dark hair and a mustache and a Navy Commander, but who was wearing a light colored civilian suit and black tie. They all sat down at the meeting table present.

"Gentlemen, we have one, possibly two, 'fallen angels' in the area". The Colonel started, with his forehead slightly shinning from the overhead lights. "The situation seems to be out of control and the Commander also agrees with my….".

"Stop!" The voice of the Major made the German wonder of what was really going around here. But he wasn't supposed to make any questions, so he decided to listen to what the military had to say. "Colonel, this situation has gone out of control already, it seems, otherwise I wouldn't have flown to this desert stinking place. You and Naval Intelligence are only here to help out as much as you can. Because, from now, I will be running this show. Is that understood?"

The Colonel seemed happy to comply with the order, but the Navy officer gave him a hard look. "You can't just keep us out of this. We are the ones with most experience in investigating such cases! Although this has happened over land, we must take control of the operation…."

"Commander," He paused as if giving a lecture. "You will assist in the recovery operations and I will greatly appreciate whatever more information the Navy can provide us. But this has gotten too much sensitive, so we need to start concentrating our efforts in dealing with this matter and not have all the services doing their own investigations".  

"Meaning the CIA? You must be joking! No one will let something this big go over an agency that has just been created!" Looking at the whole situation, the German doctor suddenly reminded himself of similar meetings, taken several years ago. The Party, the SS, the Gestapo, the High Command, all fighting for the same. Pitiful how the Americans are falling into the same error, no matter what they might be talking about. 

"I will say this only once: the President is about to set directives on the matter defining clearly everyone's position. You can be a part of the team or be out: your choice". The Major simply crossed his arms in front of him and waited for an answer. The other officer shook its head in frustration but conceded. "OK, OK, I'm not going against superior orders. But we have already facilities set in Virginia to deal with the wreckage we have been retrieving from the first crash site…"

"These are all to be transported into Wright Army Air Field at once, using all available planes. And the Navy isn't the only one who has ever recovered one of this things, if you are wondering". The other officer simply nodded, more in shock than in compliance, and he turned to the Colonel. "Now that we have settled this, why did this all got picked up by the media? You were told to have complete discretion over the matter". 

"The base intelligence officer was the first to get on the site of the crash. Although he didn't see any bodies, he saw the wreckage and thought it would be better for the public if there were an announcement that the military had finally taken control of one of the strange disks anyone has been seeing around. The story hit the local paper yesterday and since then we have been flooded by requests of information from news agencies and papers".

The German scientist started to wonder what was the whole matter over a simple aircraft crash. He wondered if the Soviets had developed an advanced aircraft capable of over flying the US and if one had crashed. "We will have to deny those claims immediately". The Major thought for a second. "We are close to Alamogordo, aren't we?"

"The Army Airfield? Well yes…". The Colonel became puzzled, but the Major stopped him with a hand. "There are a number of top secret projects over there using balloons. That is what we have recovered here, is that understood? And that's why the intelligence officer will admit to the press that he had made a mistake". 

"He will be suspicious of what's going on".

"He will follow his orders, even if they mean he will be discredited. And if someone digs too much into this they will find a classified project using weather balloons, nothing else".

"What about the bodies? What if someone talks about them?"

"We'll have an answer ready for that, don't worry. Now tell me more about what you have found today and that has brought me here".

As the Navy officer and the Colonel looked at one another, the scientist had his attention fully focused on them. The Commander started speaking. "I already had sent a team there. They have found a craft, with four bodies and have secured the location. We will start the retrieval operations tomorrow".

"Very well. Gentlemen, I will need your full collaboration on this if we are to support our countries interests on this matter, which shall never be discussed with anyone…" As the Major kept talking, the German scientist simply stopped listening and decided to wait. He, together with his wife and only son, had been flown into the US upon his capture on the last days of World War II in Nazi Germany. In all appearances he was a guest of the US Government, but he knew that the only thing the Americans wanted was access to the technical data he knew about the advanced aircraft projects that Germany had been developing. He wasn't too enthusiastic about his situation, but he knew that the Russians had also captured a number of scientists and were using them to develop their own special projects. And although he didn't like the Americans much better than Stalin, it was better to be on the winning side or at least on the side that possessed nuclear weapons.

June 11th, 2000

New York Times Building, NY, US

"Blake!" It was on the middle of the morning and Evan Blake had just arrived to the paper after a late night, but the call of the meeting room told him he would just have to completely wake up without coffee. "Get here immediately! He stopped the movement towards his desk and started walking towards the meeting room in one corner of the redaction. When he walked in there, he saw that almost editors where present, which was odd since it wasn't the day for their weekly meeting. Which meant that something big had just came up.

His editor, Phil, who had called him immediately asked him as soon as he had stepped inside: "Have you seen the _Post today?"_

"Well I just checked in and didn't really had time….". Seeing Phil just pointing a hand towards an edition of the _Washington Post that was lying with others on top of the table, he picked up. "Front pages. You seemed to be right all along"._

Blake wondered what did he meant by that and quickly flipped through the initial pages, until coming up with a news article whose title made his mouth drop open. "UFO: They are out there. Government studies classifies them as 'probably the manifestations of extraterrestrial intelligence". He kept reading. "According to classified papers obtained by the _Post, the Unidentified Flying Objects that have been a part of our imagination for the last fifty years do actually exist. One top secret report, dated from 1998, specifically states that the latest round of UFO sightings can only be attributed to 'some power outside Earth' whose intentions are 'not clear at this moment, due to all the failures to communicate with the occupants of those craft, although all possibilities can be considered at this date". Blake kept reading the rest of the article, but there seemed to be no reference to current operations on the reports they had managed to get their hands on. "A whistle blower. Too bad he didn't decide to leak the information to us"._

"I have spoken to someone at the _Post who said they will pass copies of the 'ET Papers', as the matter was mentioned on the major networks today, to all of who wants it to check them out. As for their veracity, I've talked to the Under Secretary of Defense today: he didn't confirm it or deny it. The cat is out of the bag and they know it. They are only trying to find a way to get out of this unharmed"._

Blake nodded. "What do you want me to do?" 

"Forget all other stories. Your top priority goes into this matter. I want to know what else they are keeping away from the public". After ten more minutes, Blake left the room and headed out for his desk, completely awake. He only remembered that he didn't have a coffee yet three hours later, but by that time he hunger inside his bowels made him decide that he should head outside to grab a bite somewhere. 

June 12th, 2000

The White House, Washington D.C., US

Dismissing all of his aides, President Winston closed the door of the Oval Office, to be left alone with Vice-President Longstreet and the National Security Advisor, Candace May. Winston and Casper had spent all night thinking of what he was going to say to the US and the world about the situation and how to lessen the effects of it. Besides a local rally or even a riot there wasn't much of a social breakdown as it had been feared, but they all knew that the release of the papers at least showed that the government was doing something about it. There was still some trust into old Uncle Sam, but they knew that wouldn't last long, since they couldn't just deny the veracity of the documents. And if they didn't anything, Congress would and on that moment everything could be on the loose.

But there were other matters to attend as well, regarding the political situation. The VP had just flown in after a pre-campaign travel to the Western states and needed to be informed of the situation. He had the most to loose than all of the men here, since he would be the party's candidate to run for the presidency.

"John, I don't need this at the moment! You have seen the polls, me and Vaughn are closely matched".

"George, we are trying to find the leak, but the best is to not worry too much about the situation. We are going to acknowledge the existence of the reports, but we are only going to reveal that they exist but seem to be only observing us. We will deny the existence of X-Com and only recognize our own military and research efforts in the matter. I have already talked to the other leaders of the Council and they agree on this. We need to keep the panic down".

"But what about Vaughn? He has been informed of the situation also before, but has been kept out of most information. And he has already spoken today of the need to investigate this whole situation fully. This has just turned into an election issue!"

"You need to keep this out as more as you can". The National Security Advisor concluded. "Right now we have everything contained and can even present evidence that we are working in the situation, but we can't have Congress or the press digging too much. We and our allies have already taken measures to contain the release of dangerous information but we need to keep the lid contained". 

"That includes X-Com? Why don't we reveal the existence of the organization also? We could use it to show that we are doing something". 

May simply shook her head. "You would be recognizing that: first, they are hostile; second, that there's an UN operation running on our territory that we don't have any military control over it; and third, that you knew about all this and took part in keeping it a secret. We already have the whole press going after us. And who knows what the aliens think about all of this. Now you think if it will be good for your campaign to press this matter too much".

Longstreet couldn't think of an answer. He turned to Winston and queried. "Is that what you are going to say later on?"

"I already have the speech written. I also will be announcing that Mark has just turned in his letter of resignation for the Director of Central Intelligence".  

 "You are turning him into a scapegoat? We know that he isn't responsible for the leak". 

May jumped in. "His position right now is unattainable. This has turned into what can be a major scandal and he will recognize on the letter that he had made serious under judgements about the situation which could have lead into a major disaster regarding the situation".

"How can you say that? Mark Casper has been one of the major players on our team during this whole thing. How can we just dismiss him now?"

Winston voice showed his tiredness of the whole thing. "We all here know that George. But, believe we need to present something to the altar of public opinion or they will came after all of us. Mark knows that, yesterday at the end of the meeting he presented his resignation of free will. And we don't need to worry about what he will say to the press. He understands it better than any of us".

Longstreet still couldn't believe it. "So you go out there and give the speech and afterwards we downplay the thing?" Winston simply looked at him. "That's how it goes. We need to let the subject die. We can't risk any more discredit into the government".

Langley, Virginia, US

The mood inside the Agency's headquarters struck Williams as unusual, but he could understand well the feelings. He didn't knew exactly to feel at the leak: for one side it slightly amused him that some of the papers had actually been written by him, although the version that had arrived at the _Post had been censored of all names, either by the paper or by the informer. On the other side the whole matter could easily bring social chaos, although there had been no reports of violence and a lot of people seemed to be turning into religion in the last days._

When he had stopped in a gas station to fill up the tank on his way to work, he had listened a couple of college students discussing the situation over the line to pay. One of them, barely looking as if he had just stepped out of high school had simply commented: "So what? Everyone's been listening stories about them for too long. No wonder they do exist!"

Another of the costumers had interjected at the middle of the discussion, a man on his fifties on his way to play golf. "Well son, but what if you actually have to fight ET? Would you do it like I had to in Nam?" The youngsters kept their mouths quiet and Williams could see that everyone was waiting to hear something about the aliens' intentions. And the answers he knew were too far dark and heavy for everyone standing with him on the line to pay for gas.

When he arrived at his office the secretary told him right away that the Director had asked him to meet before the President' speech about the situation. Now, as he walked inside he wondered what they had decided to publicly tell. He had advocated that the majority of the facts relating to the aliens and their intentions to be released, so that all of Earth could be prepared for the storm that one day would come if they didn't unite. No one knew for how long the fight with the aliens would go and government credibility was already at a low, so it would be better to assume the whole thing. And the existence of X-Com also, since it was the only force that had successfully battled the aliens and managed to have achieved some major victories. This had been a covert operation for too long and the difficulties coming from that concealment were more than the advantages now, since the aliens knew now for sure of X-Com's existence after the failed attack on the Japanese base. But he had been kept out of the last night's decision.

Mark Casper had a tired face like the man hadn't slept all night, but he still managed to smile at Williams as he got inside. "Came in, Williams and take a seat please". Both shook hands and Williams wondered what had happened.

"How did it go last night sir? What has the President decided?"

"I passed along your ideas but they didn't pay much attention to them. To be honest, everyone from the military to the other agencies and departments think that the Agency had been having too much predominance on the whole question. The fact that the leak came from our side didn't help us much".

"Sir, that's bs, if you will forgive me. We have been the central point in the whole matter since it started then. They just can't remove us from being at the helm".

"Williams, I was in no position to argue. For a number of reasons I have turned in my letter of resignation for the post of Director of the CIA last night". Seeing Williams' shocked face he continued. "I can't be precise but believe it will be less damaging if I take this step, even though you shouldn't believe everything you will hear about me. We have to regain the public's trust or otherwise our whole government will crumble down and all that we have done so far becomes meaningless".

Despite Williams' inability to understand, he simply nodded. "I see. Are they going to reveal the existence of X-Com?"

The DCI brought his eyes down and shook his head. "No. To be honest they want to show that they have some control over the situation, not that we needed the UN's help on this one. And some nations at the Council had stated that the political situation in their own countries could turn into far worse if that secret was revealed". 

"But what is Winston going to say?" The Director looked at his watch and picked up the remote on top of his desk. "It has already started. Hear it for yourself". Pressing a button, a TV set on the other side of the room come live and both men moved to seat on a sofa close to it. The image showed the President standing in the middle of the Press Room, standing behind the blue seal of the United States. He had his reading glasses put on while reading a speech.

"…bringing me here to talk to the American people is most serious. As you might have heard, in the past days a number of government documents have came out to the public concerning the so called 'UFO phenomenon' that have been reported all over the nation. For decades the discussion of extraterrestrial life has gone through our society, as our reason told us it is logical to assume that the same conditions that allow life to bloom on Earth could happen all over the universe. But until now we had no scientific proof, just hints that we might not be alone out there.

But, for some years now we have received confirmation that there are advanced civilizations that at this moment are watching us. This might come as a shock to all of you and some might even argue that we should have kept the information public as soon as we knew. We had our own reasons regarding national security for doing so, but we have acted at all time with the acceptance of the leaders of Congress, your elected representatives. 

Like I said before, we know now that some of the unexplained phenomena over our skies are the manifestations of a civilization that can travel through the stars and have taken an interest over our planet over decades. We don't know yet their motives behind it but we are taking the necessary measures to investigate them. They are refraining from establishing communications with us and have done their activities on the planet with discretion.

For the time being I ask you all to maintain your normal lives, since there is no reason to panic. We are constantly tracking their activities over the US and are in close contact with our allies around the world concerning this matter. Our intelligence services and military have been working hard, trying to assess if the aliens are actually a threat. This information leak is a serious crime and the responsible will be brought to a court of law but it has also made this Administration decide that something of this magnitude couldn't be kept in secret anymore. 

Ultimately the public has the right to know and it is important that all of you know, since this is the greatest test we might have to pass a nation yet. We are working to resolve this enigma and all of us should be united now so that we can overcome this contact. 

Thank you, good morning and God bless us all".

Although Williams already knew most of the ideas contained on the speech, it still gave him a strange feeling inside that he couldn't describe. The whole thing seemed to be more and more out of control, moved by strange forces that he couldn't grasp. And he knew that there was more here that meets the eye on this whole leak business.

"So where do this alien business go from here?" He still didn't know what all of this would mean. The former DCI tried to make things look better than they sounded. "There wasn't much discussion into that matter last night since everybody was more focused on getting out of this political mess. Bottom line is that everyone's neck, including the Republicans, is too deep into this for it to be used as a political weapon. The story being sold to the media is that the government is working and that the alien question should be contained as possible and no rash action taken until we know more about them".

"A gross understatement of what is going on. It will only last until the next terrorist attack on an American city".

"Perhaps but if that turns out a solution will be found. Until then all of the intelligence and military efforts are to continue as planned. They will be only replacing me, the team will still be in place".

Something crucial passed through Williams's mind. "But what about your replacement, sir? Has that been brought up on the meeting?"

Casper made a sour face before replying. "It hasn't, but from what I have seen and heard yesterday, Candace May is the best candidate for the position. I know how you feel about her opinions Williams, but she will tackle the job fine".

"I hope you are right sir, I sincerely do".

June 18th, 2000

Area 51, Nevada, US

The two pilots standing close to the Aurora were getting on Eva Johannes' nerves and she was making a great effort to put up with them. She wondered if the Colonel had deliberately assigned both of them as test pilots to annoy her. Harris seemed more a killing machine than a human, listening to the explanations about the abilities of the laser and plasma cannons her team had just installed into the plane, instead of the reconnaissance gear it would normally carry. The man was exactly what made her get chicken skin about the military: they seemed incapable of feeling any remorse when they were taking lives when they pressed a trigger. Fighter pilots were even worse, it seemed, no matter if Harris had seen his co-pilot die when an UFO had attacked and destroyed an unarmed plane.

And the Captain was even worse. He simply acted, and talked, like damn John Wayne, no to mention he could quite obnoxious with his advances on her. She just couldn't stand the macho attitude, reminding her of some really bad idiots who had tried to go on a date with her on university, although they hadn't been as worse as this one. "So doctor, are you enjoying the United States? Is this your first time here?", he asked from the chair he was sitting, trying again to start a conversation. 

"And it might be the last", brushing him off and going back to the specifics of the gear they would be testing later on the afternoon. "We have installed two types of weapons inside the SR-75. The one that we will be testing this afternoon is the laser cannon, developed from our own research. It has a range of about 15 miles and outside that distance you can shoot it as much as you can but the only results you might achieve are blinding a Sectoid's eyes".

Clark wondered if there was a joke there over the things. Harris thought of it for a second and replied: "What's the firing rate and potency of it?"

Johannes' voice seemed as if it raised one tone. "Low, about eight seconds with an energy release on the target a little superior than the one contained inside an Amraam missile. Before you start complaining, these are tests and the Aurora can't generate quickly enough the energy necessary to increase…"

"I get it. What about the other cannon?" Looking at Harris and Johannes. Clark started to wonder what was going between these two. 

She replied with a mechanical voice. "High energy plasma release, capable of taking down a Large Scout with a single well placed shot. Close to forty miles of range, firing rate of twelve seconds, for the same reasons as above. Anything else?"

Harris stood quiet and she picked up the speech again. "The test today is pretty simple: both of you will take the Aurora to the test range where we'll check the aerodynamics and, if everything is OK we will try to engage a drone fighter and destroy it. As for…" Clark kept listening, paying attention to the parts where he would be involved, but otherwise thinking of ways to get this ice queen's attention.

July 10th, 1947

Close to Roswell AAF, New Mexico, US

Picking up a canteen that was on the ground of the back seat, the German scientist unscrewed the top and brought it to his lips. He then almost choke on the water as the jeep where he was traveling hit a hole on the dirt road they were traveling. The whole place was just getting to him, too dry and hot for someone who had spent all his life in Central Europe. But he just was too curious about what he would find in the mesa where he, the Major and the Colonel were traveling.

They passed by a number of military checkpoints on the way and he also saw a couple of observation planes up on the air, together with trucks which came from where they were going and seemed to be fully loaded.  He had already inspected some of the debris that had come from the first crash site and had found it impossible to determine what the material was. He thought first it was some sort of aluminum alloy, specially developed for aircraft, but the few tests he had performed in the morning completely puzzled him. Although it was as light as aluminum, the metal had unheard of before strength and flexibility. 

After asking for some tools, he had tried using a welder and a sledgehammer on a small piece, only to see that the heat and the strength didn't leave a mark on it. And all of it on a small sheet of metal not thicker than a paper sheet that could be bended by one's hand and afterwards return to its previous form by itself. What sort of technology was that?

The Colonel in the seat in front of him interrupted him. "It's over that small hill. We have already removed the bodies to better preserve them since some already showed the marks of small predators and scavengers. But the craft's main body is still there". The Major grunted an acknowledgement and the scientist kept quiet.

When they finally drove to the top of the small elevation and stopped in front of a massive Army tent that had been erected, the Colonel disembarked the jeep and motioned both men to follow him, moving straight through the tent to the other side of it. The scientist followed him closely and when he arrived at the other side he tried hard to keep his shock hidden.

A circular shaped craft rested on the ground below the elevation, clearly the reason why it had stopped there, after traveling for a couple hundred meters on the ground, since there was a large trail behind it. The color of it was gray, the same of the debris he had handled in the morning and he thought he could see view ports on the fuselage. And there were military men all over it, as if they were ants swarming over a dead creature's carcass.

He thought he knew what he was seeing, but he wondered of how it could be here since Germany had lost and all prototypes of the plane had reportedly been destroyed to avoid capture by the enemy. The Hannabu. One of the Fuhrer's special projects to develop a saucer shaped craft capable of going into space. Or threaten any location or country on Earth because of its planned range. This could only mean that the Soviets had managed to capture a Hannabu intact or…. He had avoided taking seriously any of the rumors that said that a number of U-Boats and personnel had left Germany right before its fall, heading for some unknown location where they could continue the fight.

The Major had already stepped down the slope and the scientist went hurriedly behind him. "Doctor, this is why I brought you all along. You are to make a preliminary report on this craft regarding everything you see: fuselage, apparent propulsion system and the flying controls. And I want to know every peculiarity or impossibility it has and any ideas you might have on how this technology works. Are we clear?" He simply nodded and, looking at what seemed to be a door, went through it, too anxious to see the inside of the craft and look for any clues to where it had been built.

Stepping inside and with the Major following him, he immediately was almost overwhelmed by the stench inside, of something impossible to recognize but that had been rottening for a while. Fighting it, he saw portable generators brought by the military that lighted the inside and that there was also a blown up hole on the roof directly over the center. It had close to seven meters in diameter below the hole there was a scorched mark on the ground metal. Something had exploded here and, taking notice of a large slag of metal standing close to one wall, he wondered if that might be the engine. To the left there was what seemed to be the pilot's seats but they seemed too small for a man to sit there. That struck him as curious and he looked for any indications of what the occupants might be but the military seemed to have already removed all traces of them.

The Colonel suddenly walked inside the craft and the Major looked back at him. "I have received word from the base. One of them is still alive!" That phrase brought the scientist's attention and he turned, managing to catch the last words of the Major to the Colonel as both men were hastily leaving the craft. "At least we will know where they came from". The German scientist decided to be patient and not show much attention to that matter. Much was to learn first from here, the rest would come in time. 

June 22nd, 2000

NORAD, Cheyenne Mountain, Colorado, US

The late afternoon alert caught everyone's attention on the Air Defense Room and almost made General Bigelow spill his coffee all over his aide. He put down the mug he was holding and looked to see what had the radar systems detected. First he felt a little fear as he picked up the red square moving towards the US and about to cross the North Pole. Then he decided to confront his fears and asked: "Source of the attack?"

His aide had already picked up a phone and put a hand over the microphone as he replied. "Not Russia, sir. This isn't a rogue ICBM. Our northern radars are tracking the target and it fits the radar pattern of an UFO". Bigelow felt relief. The whole facility had been built to detect any aerial attack on the US and, more precisely, Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles launched by Soviet Union or any other nation against the US. The majority of its air defense radar grid covered the Artic, the most likely route for any missile aimed at American cities. And the aliens seemed to know it somehow, since the majority of their raids took other routes.

"Sir, our radars are showing it to be a large craft, possibly one of their Terror Ships!" The aide was still holding the white phone. Bigelow turned to another officer manning one console and ordered: "Show me a projection of possible targets, based on present flight path and their estimated hour of arrival. Only the major cities". The man started keying instructions and, a couple of seconds later, a map of the north American continent appeared on the monitor, with blue lines marking states and countries borders. "Denver, four hours; Houston-Ft. Worth, five; Mexico City, six and a half". The General turned to his aide who handed him the phone. "Sir, I have the Secretary of Defense on the line". Before grabbing the phone he turned to the aide and asked: "Scramble all available interceptors and get X-Com online and see if they have picked it up on their net already".

"General, it's going too fast. Our fighters will never be able to caught up with it". 

Area 51, Nevada, United States

On the men's showers, Captain Clark was close to finishing scrubbing off all of the sweat and sand he had picked today. He had had worse days than this one, but as the days passed it seemed as if the heat was getting more and more oppressive. And worse yet, the hot weather was having the exact opposite effect on the ice queen, making her more and more picky with things all the time. They had taken the Aurora airborne today again and yet she was constantly asking for data over the radio. It had gotten to a point where Harris had simply told to him: "You deal with her, I'll do the flying", leaving him not only in charge of supervising the tests and keeping a look of things in general but also to having to answer her solicitations.

He was now rinsing off all the soap, standing immobile right below the shower and relaxing as a voice tried to call him back to reality. "Clark! Are you here?" He half-blinked his eyes, unsure if the voice was a dream, until the door of the shower cabinet where he was opened, making his skin tingle from the fresh air that come inside. Looking behind his shoulder he saw Harris holding the door, still on his flight suit. "Clark, haven't you heard me?"

"Do you mind?!" Harris stepped back and he turned off the hot water and asked. "What's going on? Thought we had finished for today". Going out of the cabinet he picked a washed towel from a pile of clean ones. "Get yourself ready as fast as you can. A large UFO has been detected heading towards the south. It's going too fast for our F-22s or the Air Force birds to intercept it. We have been ordered to take the Aurora and try to intercept it". 

"Holy shit". He stopped scrubbing. "I have brought your flight suit. Get ready me and meet me at the hangar. We are taking off in fifteen minutes". He then left Clark and the Texan spent the next ten minutes trying to put on the space suit he had just worn the whole day and swearing every time he ran into a problem. 

At the same time the hangar to where the Aurora had been towed after the morning flight was swarming with activity as the technicians made the final preparations on the electronic systems and fueled the craft with liquid hydrogen. Colonel Johnson and Dr. Johannes were close to the airplane and the faces of both of them showed tiredness and exasperation.

"Doctor, your recommendation that the Aurora shouldn't be used has been noted. But the fact is that we have detected a possible Terror Ship heading toward us and we need to take it down before it lands in one of our cities".

"Colonel, the weapons mounted upon the Aurora are here on experimental tests. The use of such equipment in combat is full of risks. This project is under my supervision and I can't possibly authorize such a hazardous mission!"

"You don't seem to understand, Doctor. That aircraft is under my command while I'm on charge of this base and I'm taking full responsibility into authorizing such a mission. That plane is getting up. It's the only chance we have to take down the Terror Ship before it strikes".

"Colonel, I don't care about if you are the dictator of this place. The weapons inside that plane aren't going anywhere and specially with that mental case flying it". Johnson shook his head. He had gone through the same thoughts also before deciding to assign Harris to the mission. But the man had handled the Aurora with the same confidence and skill than flying one of the F-22's and he had seen lots of combat after being shot down.

"I had my reservations about Harris, Miss Johannes, but I trust him to do the mission like he has done since he joined X-Com". 

"From what I've heard since I arrived here he takes unnecessary risks. I can't allow him to take unnecessary risks while trying to kill the UFO. If we lose these prototypes it will delay the development of these weapons and then you won't have new toys to play with. How would that feel Colonel?"

"He will do his job. I'm trying to save lives here Doctor and yes, I know that there's a risk but I prefer to take it than to hear in the news about how many civilians got killed by the terrorists. Now are you going to check the weapons or do I need to call some guards from Theta to put you into custody?"

Johannes nearly jumped in shock and disbelief. "What?! Are you threatening to put me into prison?" Johnson nodded right afterwards. "Yes. Like you said I'm the dictator around here, in charge of all assets and personnel assigned to this base, even on a temporary basis. Which means that if you persist on that attitude I'll interpret it as a refusal to follow orders and will act accordingly". He kept a stern look to make her see that he was serious about it.

To Johnson, Johannes looked as if she was trying really hard to constrain her. "I'm a member of the Scientific Branch! On my work I report back to Dr. Chevereux not the military!"

Taking notice of Harris, who had just entered the hangar, he decided to call the discussion to an end. "You can discuss the legal technicalities as long as you stay on the brig, Doctor or you can do your work. All I'm asking is for some collaboration and don't worry about Harris". The scientist lowered her head, trying not to look back at him. He decided to give her some moments alone to decide and went by Harris to give him the last details of the mission.

"I've dig up Clark and he's on its way here". Johnson looked at the pilot's eyes, trying again to see if the inner fire that burned inside them was still raging. "Very well. As soon as you're airborne contact the Air Force. They have diverted a Sentry from a training mission and it's about to get the UFO on its radar. And Colonel", he made a pause, "get it down, but bring the Aurora back to the base. If the Pentagon decides to fry me because I've lost their plane your flying days here are over. Understood?" Harris nodded and after wishing good luck to him, Johnson sped towards the base armory. 

Close to Tinker AFB, Oklahoma, US

The radar dome placed upon the back of the fuselage of the E-3C Sentry aircraft was slowly turning while the plane kept a northern course, propelled by its four jet engines. The Boeing 707 had been converted to be an airborne platform for the detection of enemy aircraft and to command fighters to intercept them.

Inside, a skeleton training crew had been just stirred by the recent orders to perform an unscheduled exercise just as they had reached operational altitude. The training officer had been too laconic, just mentioning that the base had just ordered them to conduct an interception. That had brought many raised eyes and exchanges of glances from the junior officers for they all had heard the President's announcement concerning the existence of UFOs. But most of their excitement turned into disappointment as the instructors sat on unoccupied consoles and began managing the interception, keeping them away out of the action. Still, some made excuses to get up from their seats and try to steal a glance from what was going on the air.

Over Colorado, US

"Harris, we just got word from the Sentry. The bogey has dropped its height from fifty to forty-five thousand and seems to be going even lower. Speed remains at Mach 4.2". The voice on his headphones made Harris slightly move his eyes to recheck his speed on the glass panel in front of him were his Heads Up Display was projected. The display brought up information at the level of the pilot's eyes, so that he wouldn't need to drop his attention from flying to check for altitude or other data.

"Distance from target at 156 miles, ETA for the target…" Harris interrupted the other pilot who was riding backseat on the Aurora. "I know the ETA. Just make sure that the weapons are ready". A pause came through the intercom but Clark decided to keep his mouth shut, although he wasn't too happy with being strapped to a supersonic plane and being driven around by Harris. 

Close to Tinker AFB, Oklahoma, US

The training officer in charge of training flight Sentry Zero Two – Zero Seven didn't know what was worse, keeping the trainees quiet and off the whole affair or dealing with the pilot who was flying the interceptor plane. So far all of his orders to the fighter had been anticipated by the pilot: every time he issued a course or altitude change, the plane had performed as it had been told, only a second too early. It seemed that the pilot already knew what he was about to say and knew exactly what the intruder was performing. How the training officer didn't knew, since he had been informed that Hammer flight didn't had any air interception radar and he doubted that the pilot was receiving any other information besides from him.

The whole matter puzzled him but he had heard a lot of rumors before about the flying disks and US dark aircraft but he decided that it would be best if he just kept a check on the whole operation and tried to keep out of the way. His experience was about directing F-15s against MiGs, not using top-secret airplanes to fight UFOs.

Looking over the radar data displayed on the dark screen in front of him, he saw how the small plane symbol representing Hammer had just completed a long turn clockwise directed to put it on the UFO's six o' clock. The speeds of both craft were incredible to behold: the interceptor was flying at more than Mach five, the UFO a bit slower. Pretty soon it would all be over. 

"Hammer, maintain heading at 172. Your target is at 123 miles. Good hunting". As he finished giving the coordinates, the instructor glanced over his shoulders and saw the small group of students quickly moving their attention off him. He gave them a hard look, considering how they should all have a lecture from the base security officer then proceed to direct the pilot of the Sentry about the new heading he should be taking. 

Over Colorado, US

Time seemed to be awfully slow for Clark, as he went again through the makeshift panel in front of him that controlled the Aurora's weapons. He didn't want to look at his watch to see how many seconds had passed since the last communication from the Sentry. Harris was constantly giving him data about the UFO's altitude and range, but the radio was the only contact he had with the outside world. The SR-75 backseat that was usually occupied by the photo officer had two small view ports but it had already turned into dark. During the test flights the feeling of being encapsulated hadn't bothered him, but now he wished he was on the cockpit of a fighter, where he could be in control and aware of everything. And another thing that was worrying him was that the Aurora was big and fast but not that maneuverable, meaning that Harris wouldn't be able to throw an roll to evade a shot from the UFO as quickly as he would have from an F-22. Clark was wondered if Harris had remembered that or worse, if he had but still would try to push the plane over the limit. 

"Clark, sixty miles. Get the plasma ready". The voice startled him for a second, but his hands moved to the instruments board in front of him, clicking switches and bringing the charge on the weapon up to one hundred percent. "Plasma cannon is live and safety off". He spoke at the end to tell Harris that he could fire the weapon now at will from the trigger located on the top of the control lever.

"Aye. Fifty miles, reducing speed for interception". At that same moment Harris pulled back the left throttle stick to keep a safe distance between him and the UFO. The cannon operation procedures required him to visually locate the alien craft and he was wearing night vision goggles over his helmet to help on the task. And he also had the help of the Sentry's radar, which was informing him of any changes on its speed and altitude. The thing had kept a steady direction from ever since it had been first detected, as if it was in a hurry to get somewhere. And it was his job to prevent that from happening.

The small dot of light had been slowly increasing on the horizon, too low to be a star. And Harris was keeping the circular sight on the center of his HUD right upon it. The cannons line of firing had been aligned with the aircraft's flight path, making the discharge of the weapons a bore sight shoot. The Aurora simply had to be flying right towards the UFO for it to hit.

The range slowly decreased until the Sentry told him that he was at less than forty miles from the contact. At that moment Harris simultaneously cut more power from the engine with his left hand and released the safety switch from the red trigger with an upward move from his right thumb. "Fox Zero", he called on the radio to warn that he was firing. 

When he pressed the trigger with his right index finger he was already closing his eyes to protect his night vision from the green flare of the superheated plasma. When he opened them a second later, the light that came from the goggles still made him blink and then scowl as he saw the bolt going over the UFO. "Miss. Speed it up, Clark".

On the back section of the cabin, Clark was permanently monitoring the status of the weapon and going over and over the firing procedures. He wondered for how long this would go on, since Harris had already fired the cannon ten times, managing to score four solid hits by now while the UFO hadn't even fired back yet. Seeing that the light that indicated the status of the plasma cannon had gone green again, he passed back control to Harris.

As the radio started to clatter again, Harris already knew what the Sentry had detected on its radar and was about to inform him. The UFO seemed to be reducing its altitude, but to what purpose Harris couldn't fathom at all. The thing had to be damaged and the wisest would be to try to shake off his pursuer, but it was still holding a parallel course with him. Unless it was preparing to set itself down on earth…. "Clark, get that laser cannon ready. This thing goes down now one way or the other".

Hearing his words, Clark just tried to ignore whatever the other man meant. He just wanted to complete the damn mission and get out of the tin can he was flying in and take a damn shower and grab a good night's sleep and debriefing could wait until the next day. He also made a mental note to remind himself that no woman was worth this amount of trouble. 

The UFO continued to drop down in the sky, moving towards a white cloud cover lit by the moonlight and where occasionally a mountain peak would sneak up. It was shaped as an ellipse but it was curved inwards at the center and it was more than eighteen feet tall. The plasma blast that finally brought it down hit it at the uppermost section of its rear, making the whole craft shiver on middle air for a brief second, until the UFO started to drive off his intended flight path to the right and plunge towards the ground on an uncontrolled dive towards New Mexico. 

November 5th, 1947

Wright Army Air Field, Ohio, US

The recovered UFO was standing in the middle of a hangar, after having being brought to air base through a heavy guarded train all the way from New Mexico. Some of the less damaged equipment found in the inside had already been dissassembled, although the scientists moving around the fuselage could do nothing but guess at their purpose or even how they worked. But the German scientist wasn't too worried about that at the moment. He had managed to be assigned to group researching the fuselage and their team had done the most progress so far. He had kept secret the fact that he had worked on such craft before, back in Germany, while using the knowledge he had learned from working on the Hannabu project to advance his team's research. His team, in fact, since one month after the work had started, he had been promoted to lead all of the members of the scientific group. The Major was pleased with his work, he had personally made a point of saying it so and the majority of the other scientists were either too dumbstruck at the finding or were uninterested to leading the research efforts. It had been too easy to advance his position, to the point where he was able to start hearing things. 

Actually they were more of confirmations to what he had learned from the craft. The initial upon which the Hannubu had been based were bizarre and extremely advanced, leaving Germany unable of mass producing and deploying such craft. But the machine the Americans had captured was even more technologically developed! The Reich had used a highly modified jet engine to power the Hannabu, but this craft seemed to use something so powerful, that he first had considered that it used some of that new atomic energy. But when some of the American scientists assigned to the atomic facilities had seen it, there were at a loss to explain it with the current laws of physics. Even Einstein's Relativity theory couldn't make any sense of it.

He knew neither that the Russians or the English could have developed something so advanced as the craft who had been brought to here. And the origin of the data behind the Hannabu had never been clarified by the high Nazy Party officials responsible for the project. The references he had picked up from the bodies picked up had completed the puzzle for him. Something greater than all the powers of this world was out there on the skies and for quite some time it seemed. He looked up at the catwalk standing right above the craft and saw the Major and the Navy Commander discussing in a small office connected to the aerial corridor. The Major had been made the top boss on the whole matter, but it still amused the scientist to know things that even him had never shown any sign of being informed. That would be useful later. 

He headed towards a flight of stairs to go and meet the Major. As he reached the small windowed office, the Commander stepped out, clearly distressed, passing by him without saying a word. When he stepped into the small enclosured area, the military man was lighting a cigarette with a zippo lighter, the yellow and blue flame lighting his darkened face. "Come on in, doc and close the door please".

He did so and asked: "Is everything good?" The Major didn't reply for a second, giving him a hard stare. "I just informed the Commander that his services and those of the Office of Naval Intelligence are no longer required and told him to turn every bit of information they have. He was not pleased".

"Am I being left out of the program also?" The Major took a deep drag of his cigarette. "You might. The President has issued special orders to deal with this subject, following the recommendations of several key personnel, both military and scientific. A special group is going to be created to investigate this matter". 

"And you managed to keep a rival to your own power out of it. Is this a test, Major? Are you testing my loyalty to the US? Or is my loyalty to you that it's being tested?"

A small smirk came of the Major's mouth but he quickly surpressed it. "You are smart Doctor, just don't get too smart or we might dispense with your services, either way". The scientist tried to ignore the implict threat. He had dealt with this sort of persons before and knew when to back off.

"Major, to resolve this matter I will offer you a token of my good faith". The officer seemed between amused and serious, as if not believing any of the scientist's false naivete. "I know about the ocupants of this craft, although I never saw their bodies. And I had already seen similar craft to this one".

The Major's face turned serious and he threw his cigarrete to the floor. "I see. And what am I supposed to offer that for that information?" The scientist simply smiled. "Why nothing at all, Major. I have no desire of going anywhere else in the world, or Earth for that matter. My family is here with me in America. I wish only that we can live a happy life here". The Major studied him carefully for seconds. Then he simply asked. "Got any kids?" The scientist relaxed and nodded. "One. He is starting to go to elementary school in Massachussets. He is liking to be here".

André Galvão, 2001 


	20. Star Chariot

X-Com – The Unknown Menace

Chapter Nineteen – Star Chariot

June 23rd, 2000

Area 51, Nevada, US

Standing immobile while the technician finished checking his power suit, Johnson was looking at the other troopers on their preparations for the upcoming fight. They were standing in the Ready room under the hangars that housed the Skyranger transports, where the teams would get ready for a mission. Before X-Com had moved into the base, it had been used before for storage of fuel and lubrificants. Now the technicians had placed gantries from where the armored suits were hanging limp a few feet above the ground, suspended by metal chains that connected the electronic cocoons where the suits where housed to the ceiling. The lights were dim and yellow: no one had bothered to replace the overhead lamps that hung from the ceiling with more potent ones. 

All around the technicians were busy, trying to avoid the oil pools on the floor and fixing the white suits into the soldiers and making sure that there wouldn't be any glitch that could go against the trooper in battle and provoke his death. Already they had to bring down two other suits to replace faulty ones that had failed the diagnostic tests that they were running on them. Others were bringing in weapons racks in carts from the base armory, holding a variety of laser and plasma weapons, together with the special crates designed to store the Elerium ammunition clips. As each soldier finished up getting into his power suit and powering it, he or she would pick up the necessary equipment and leave for the assembly area.

Looking around for the members of his squad, he saw that White had already went up to start manning the communications console. Patterson was also on his way upwards and Crossett was nearby and almost ready also, flexing his arms to look for quirks in the exoskeleton. Two strong taps on his Johnson from the technician told him that the suit was fully operational. He increased the power of the small Elerium engine that powered it and took a step forward. The electric tension-actuators located underneath the armor on the legs multiplied his effort a microsecond later and the limb performed the movement with the same speed and balance as a natural step. 

Moving to the weapons racks he picked a heavy plasma weapon that was resting upwards. Everyone seemed to be having a liking for the heavy plasma lately, since the extra weight of the weapons was encountered by the additional strength provided by the power suits. It was the deadliest weapon they possessed for now, at least until the scientists had finished researching the portable missile launcher used by the aliens on the attack on Complex YY-18. Experience had taught everyone the value of downing an alien with just one shot. If you needed two, the alien might fire back. And the amount of clips recovered from crashed UFOs meant that they could use the weapons without ammunition problems, because unfortunately the aliens also seemed lately to be equipping all their troops with the heavy plasmas. He checked it to see if there were any exterior signs that might indicate any possible unreliability but besides a dent on the grip, the weapon seemed to be on its proper condition. Moving to a close armored box, he retrieved a banana shaped blue ammunition clip for it and jacked it into the opening on the body of the weapon were it was meant to fit. A small vibration told him that the clip had been properly inserted and the weapon was now energized. Johnson looked at the small diode panel that the X-Com technicians had installed on all plasma weapons to show the available charge on the clips: it marked 99 per cent. Satisfied he picked up another clip and checked it also, afterwards grabbing also a couple of grenades and a medikit. Closing his helmet, he then moved towards the elevator that would lead him into the above hangar, with the sounds of his steps on the concrete floor being echoed by the ones made by last remaining troopers who had only now gotten ready. Crossett was nearby and had just finished getting his gear ready and was waiting for Johnson, but the Colonel whisked the bodyguard off and upstairs. 

Johnson and another trooper were the last ones as he had gotten to the grated door of the cargo lift.  Seeing that there wasn't enough room for he waved the troopers inside to go ahead, leaving him and another soldier waiting side by side for the next elevator ride. He had also his helmet down and was holding a plasma rifle instead, pressed against his chest. When the lift finally came back after a slow ascent and descent, the trooper moved and opened the metal grid and Johnson entered, followed afterwards by the other soldier who then closed the door. He slapped a big red button on the sidewall and they started going upwards. 

The trooper then moved his hand to his helmet and unlocked it, bringing the faceplate to an upward position and turning then to Johnson. Seeing Markovitch's face, he brought his own faceplate upwards, making a devilish grin and saying: "The suit nearly fooled me, but I was almost damn sure it had to be you".

She put her armored gloves on his shoulders and moved her mouth to his. Johnson held her on the waist while both their lips were connected in a kiss for a couple of seconds before parting. "Yeah? How come?" She spoke to his left ear or tried to, since it was inside the helmet and both of their faceplates collided in the process. "Although that replacement suit doesn't have a Captain's double bars, it still has the markings for Second platoon. Your platoon is always the first to get ready".

She replied his smile but suddenly looked upward in frustration as she saw that pretty soon the elevator would be arriving at the hangar as the floor of the hangar appeared upwards. "Speaking of which…". She removed herself from her arms and picked up her plasma rifle. As she was lowering her faceplate back down her eyes sought his and finding them she spoke on a whisper: "Love you", before closing shut the helmet and sealing it.

The entire team was aligned in the front of a Skyranger, with each squad making a column leaded by the commander. As Johnson and Markovitch stepped out of the elevator, they moved towards the formation, which looked as an army of giant monsters. The suit's typical carapace protected the front torso with shoulder and breast section, together with a lower section that connected the abdomen to the legs. On its the back, the armor offered less protection and it was also where the power system, air purifier and electronic equipment that allowed the X-Com troopers to carry several times their weight in weapons and armor was installed. The front of the suit was strong enough to take a heavy plasma shot on specific conditions, but was also responsible for some bad base jokes related to the troopers wearing them and the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

Markovitch moved to her position as commander of Zeta squad and Second Platoon while Johnson went to the front of the formation where Major Patterson, White and Crossett were waiting for him on attention, together with a smaller figure clad in the older blue personal armor. That puzzled Johnson, since the older suits were only issued to the training squads and the security forces. The Major saluted him and reported: "Sir, all combat squads present and ready. The team is ready for your orders, sir!" The noise of all the troopers standing in attention almost came close to the sound of the Skyranger's engines being warmed up. 

Johnson snapped off a salute in reply before turning to the smaller figure, which he now had recognized as being Dr. Johannes, the German scientist from Mother One. "What's the meaning of this?" He asked to both of them. Patterson's eyes flicked back towards the Colonel and he started. "Sir, the Doctor says that she has the right to come with us on the mission, I tried to explain to her that…"

She flatly spoke: "General Order One-Zero-Five, Colonel. I have every right to be here". Trying to hide his puzzlement and irritation, he kept staring at her. "Excuse me, doctor?" She crossed her arms in front of her and shot back. "According to the regulation, _Colonel, a member of the scientific branch may accompany a combat mission, in order to serve as a technical consultant and as to immediately start preparing the research of any alien craft, life forms or artifacts recovered"._

Johnson opened his eyes. "You have to be insane, doctor. There's no way I'm going to bring a civilian in a combat zone". Her coldness struck him as she ignored him and kept talking. "The presence of the scientific personnel is dependent upon the authorization of the senior military commander in charge of the mission". 

He placed his arms on his sides, as if giving her a lecture, while several of the troops tried to hide their grins. On the ranks, Jones leaned forward towards Rodriguez, who was standing in front on him and spoke in a whisper. "Gezz, the lady must have Floater brains". Rodriguez let go of a small laugh and Jones continued: "or maybe she just likes to be into that tight armor". That brought grins on all the male soldiers around who heard it, but somehow Sergeant Baker, who was in the front ranks overheard the whispered comments and let go of a low grumble that made them both shut up. 

"However, in specific situations, such as the possibility of recovery of new artifacts that might enhance research regarding alien weapons, propulsion or other vital research areas, the decision of the commander can be overridden through the next level of the chain of command". Suddenly Johnson wasn't so amused anymore and White moved closer to him, almost afraid to speak. "Sir, I got the call when you were arriving. Commander Illyuschenko has approved her inclusion into the mission". 

Johnson felt he was getting nearly close to burst like a grenade. "You mean you just decided to went over my head?!?!" The scientist tugged her lips, clearly taking pleasure on the situation. "Like you said to me before, there's a Terror Ship out there on the ground, a type of craft that we have never examined in close detail before. I just took the necessary steps to make sure that we are able to recover all the data we can from it, so that you can have all the nice weapons you like".

Johnson turned his head towards everyone else around him. Patterson wisely kept his mouth quiet, Crossett simply shrugged his shoulders and White looked as if he wanted to say something, but decided otherwise. 

"Very well. But you are going to keep yourself right back at the landing zone until we clear the place out of aliens". He turned to the Major. "What's the status of Skyranger Four?" Patterson shook his head. "Two, possibly three more hours. They still haven't fixed the hydraulic leak". 

"We can't wait. Fourth Platoon stays behind and follows after us when it's ready". The Major nodded since he had already arrived to the same conclusion minutes before. He turned to the troops and ordered them to start boarding the Skyrangers. "All teams board their craft. We are leaving!"

New Mexico-Colorado border, US

When the flight of X-Com craft was performing their descent through a clouded section of the sky into their target area, a sudden turbulence shaking everyone inside the cargo area of Skyranger One. The troops handled it quite well: the majority of them quickly got hold of the handlers next to their seats the plane and used them to steady themselves. However for Johannes the event didn't go so smoothly since she was unused to the Skyrangers. She tried to grab the arm of the soldier closest to her but her hand slipped over the metal surface of the suit and she found herself being projected to the other side of the 'Ranger as the plane suddenly jerked on the air to the other direction.

The trooper seated in front of her dropped his heavy plasma on his lap and grabbed her shoulders with both his hands, stopping her motion. She found herself looking directly at his helmet, which was roughly shaped as a skull. It was round on the top where it had large dark viewports, one larger than the other, while at the thinner mouth area there were two metallic pertrusions. "Danke", she muttered and quickly let go of his grip to get back to his seat. The X-Com soldier used one of his now available hands to hold himself again but reached for something on his neck with the other. A hiss followed after the faceplate went upwards and Hopkins looked carefully at her, replying. "You're welcome". She turned her face from him and waited for the landing.

Later, Private Jones was looking at the crashed UFO through the magnifying visor on his helmet and couldn't stop wincing as he thought what might be lurking on its inside. The craft had landed close to a ridge, on a dry riverbank. The Skyrangers had first performed a flyover over the craft to determine its exact position and afterwards had landed the other side of the elevation to avoid detection by the aliens. Since Johnson didn't know on which side the doors of the craft were located, he had the three platoons forming a line and moved towards the UFO in a direction parallel to the craft's length. 

After moving for a quarter of a mile with no aliens spotted yet, the scouts had finally found the UFO and determined the side on where the doors were located. The craft had a circular tall middle section from where two lower sections where connected. The team had reached the UFO at the one of those smaller parts, where the doors had been found out. He ordered Second Platoon to dug in and watch over those entrances, while the First would circle around through the back of the craft to sweep for any lurking aliens and reach to the doors that presumably where at the other end. His own platoon would swing around the Second's position and move over the ridge to cover both doors while the First got itself on position to storm the UFO.

The first encounter with the aliens occurred when Hopkins' squad point man got suddenly fired upon as they approached the ridge. Two of the plasma shots missed him and the third hit the Beta trooper fully on the chest but the suit protection saved him from serious damage. Third Platoon immediately dove for cover while trying to discover the unseen alien responsible for the shots. It didn't took too long: the moment the alien moved to fire again, the snipers of Omega squad immediately detected him and King killed it with a well placed shot from his heavy laser weapon. 

While the Third was getting slowed down, Jones and the rest of Gamma squad at the extreme left of the formation, the closest to the alien craft. Despite the distance, they had come quickly by the right side of the UFO, rushing to mount a guard over the twin doors on the left 'wing' of the craft. His platoon hadn't found any aliens yet as they were moving through the plains, but the Third had bumped into a couple of Snakemen as they moved through a series of gullies, on their way to the top of the ridge that overlooked both wings. The news about the identity of the aliens they were facing made everyone shiver: Snakemen were known to use Chrysallids when performing terror attacks. That made everyone particularly cautious as they advanced across the dry land, making sure that none of the devilish aliens could be hiding by the small parches of bushes and small trees. The number of troopers assigned to rear and flank guard had been increased but even still everyone showed nervousness, especially if they felt something touching their backs, even if it was just another soldier. 

They finally spotted the other smaller section of the UFO, standing right close to where they expected, more than fifty yards away from the base of the small plateau, gleaming orange as the slow moving Sun rose on the horizon, right over the craft. The Captain had just ordered the whole platoon to dug in and wait, while the remainder of the team got into their positions to the right. No one spoke a word as the troopers rushed to find any available cover. 

On the center, Third Platoon had just now finished clearing a large patch of thorny bushes almost impossible to pass until they used lowered discharges of the plasma weapons, which cut the tangled branches like a razor going through paper. The delays were troubling Johnson, who wanted to raid the UFO as quickly as possible, before the Snakemen inside got too heavily entrenched inside their craft. Then suddenly a call came on the tactical radio. "They are coming!"

The doors on the section of the UFO that Markovitch's squad was facing suddenly opened without a sound. However the first alien didn't even managed to put his tail out on the dry terrain before a heavy plasma blast fired by Sergeant Krenon took it down. The Snakeman stopped on its tracks for a second before falling on the ground and keeping the door open. The next alien to step into visibility made Markovitch's neck hair go upwards, as a black oily shape jumped out of the UFO and started heading towards their position at a speed impossible for a human to attain. "Chrysallids! Shit!" The only response she had was Krenon's answer: "Heavy plasma on their way Cap!"

To Jones it seemed that the situation was getting too freaking close: the platoon was still moving towards their positions as three Chrysallids burst out of his side of the UFO and start to race towards them. He hit one of them with his laser rifle but it seemed to have no effect on the monster. Kneeled-down next to him, Pershing tried to aim at the fast moving figure, who seemed to be taking leaps towards their position and had already closed half the distance but his snap shot went wide, hitting the side of the UFO. His squad had been taken by surprise by the aliens' kamikaze attack and only a couple of soldiers had managed to take a couple of shots at the ghostly figures who now were getting too damn close to their position. He swore and pointed again at the aliens. 

Letting go of a full automatic laser and plasma burst from their weapons, Jones and Pershing finally killed the dark gray Chrysallid while it was only ten yards from their position. But they didn't have time to fell any relief. A human scream from their right iced Jones' blood and made him turn to that direction.

A Chrysallid had reached Delta's position and was standing right before Private Martin, with one of his claws hooked on the chin of his helmet and using it to lift him to his feet. The soldier dropped had dropped his weapon and was trying to dislodge the sharp limb with his metal arms, with no success. In a swift movement of his other limb, the alien slashed the front of his armor with its other claw, ripping through the reinforced alien alloys and the flesh inside, drawing an even louder scream from the soldier it cut through his muscle and the sternum.

Jones thought that the trooper had bought his six feet under, but the alien had other intentions. The ovipositor in his abdomen unwrapped itself and shot through the human's chest, piercing the flesh while it moved to drop its obscene cargo. Martin immediately released himself from the alien's limb and brought his hands to his head, taking out the helmet. His mouth became wide opened as if he was screaming but no sound came and his eyes seemed to be almost jumping out of their sockets.

"Take it out Jones!" The call came from behind him, but he hesitated before shooting a fellow trooper. Confusion broke into the X-Com's ranks as the aliens suddenly breached their formation. The now zombie trooper grabbed the nearest soldier and started to use his own armored arms as clubs to beat him, regardless of the damage he was inflicting to itself. Satisfied with his work, the Chrysallid moved towards Delta's commander, Lt. Hanley, who was trying to use its own plasma rifle to disentangle the trooper. 

Using his left hand, Pershing shoved Jones out of his way and to the side, trying to shoot at both the Chrysallid and the now zombie trooper, holding his heavy plasma with only his right hand. The blackened muzzle of the weapon flashed three times in a quick succession, with mixed results. Two of the shots hit the Chrysallid directly on its back, burning through its tough hide and showing its green and purple entrails. The other one hit the Lieutenant on its leg, the superheated atoms cleaving towards the armor and nearly chopping off his right limb.

The scream of the injured officer snapped Jones back into reality. Searching on the ground for his laser rifle, he found it laying close to him, but as he was aligning it towards the zombie, the Captain and Rodriguez came by his sides and shot the zombie at point blank range, scorching the now dented and burned power suit it was still wearing. Jones saw the human figure-dropping limp to the ground as he was getting himself up to his feet, looking for the remaining Chrysallid. An all clear sign from Alpha squad told him that it had been already taken care of and he stood watching as trooper Kyle brought out his medikit and started to contain the massive bleeding on the Lieutenant's leg. Suddenly he detected movement coming from the body that used to be private Martin. Two pointed spikes thrust themselves of the armored back of the zombie, cutting through the metal. A quickly enlarging gash appeared, together with the small and still immature head of a newborn Chrysallid. "Fuck!!!!!" Jones screamed as he drew his laser rifle towards the alien that was hatching out of the X-Com trooper's body, continuously firing on its head until it was nothing more than a smoking lump, coming out upwards from the shell of the power suit. 

"Jones! That's enough!" The voice of the Captain made him stop, still standing over the dead remains of both alien and human. Kyle was close to him, with his power suit all covered in crimson blood coming out of the sliced femoral artery on the Lieutenant's leg. He pressuring the nasty wound with his hands to avoid that the X-Com officer would bleed into dead, while Pershing was trying to carefully remove the armor from the leg of the Lieutenant, so that the other trooper could properly apply a tourniquet. Bradley was lying close, his helmet already removed but his eyes closed. Jones couldn't tell if he was dead or just unconscious. He felt the Captain's arm on his shoulder and turned to him, his arms shaking slightly. "You killed it. Let's go. Pershing and Kyle are staying behind to take care of the injured. We need to get inside the UFO and give a hand to Second Platoon". Giving a last look at his X-Com comrades, he moved towards the twin doors of the UFO.

On the other side of the UFO, when the Chrysallid started to rush towards their position it was immediately killed halfway by three well placed shots by Zeta and Phi squads. Markovitch felt a little of satisfaction on the reaction of her soldiers, but an orange figure on the doorway of the UFO suddenly made a swing of its arm too familiar to her. "Grenade!" She immediately called on the radio but the call came too slow. An egg-sized object flew through the air, landing on the middle of Kappa's squad and exploding a second later. The sound wave from the explosion made Markovitch wince, while a large fireball engulfed the location of the squad right afterwards, throwing human figures around and burning the few patches of vegetation. Two other X-Com soldiers responded in the same fashion: taking profit of the dead alien who was preventing the twin doors from closing, each of them readied an alien grenade and threw it towards the UFO. One sailed over the dead Snakeman while the other hit the wall on the side of the door with a metal clank and rebounded backwards. Markovitch and the rest of her platoon didn't bother to look for the blast and all of them dove to the ground.

The twin explosion sent smoke and debris coming out of the opening in the UFO, while the pure power of the Elerium detonation simply obliterated the body of the alien on the doorway, leaving only on the ground the heavy plasma it was carrying. With the removal of the obstacle that was activating the entrance's mechanism, the doors closed themselves a second afterwards with a low sound.

Getting upwards, Markovitch readied her plasma rifle for any alien on the inside that didn't had enough yet. Her squad and Phi did the same also, covering the door, but there were no signs of Kappa. "Digriz!" She called on the platoon channel. "Are you alright?" A human figure rose on the location of Kappa and started to move in a low position towards her, walking as if he was still shaken. 

Reaching her, she noticed that the helmet's radio antenna had been destroyed while the Lt. raised the visor. "Captain, Donnaly bought it. He jumped right on top of the grenade as it landed. There's nothing much of him left to bury. Bartfast and Sharkley have some minor injuries, but they still can fight". She raised her visor also and replied: "You are going to stay here. Watch out for any alien stragglers that decide to get back to the UFO. We are going inside". 

As White finished telling him reports from both confrontations, Johnson simply suppressed the wish that things had gone better so far. They had dropped two Snakemen while moving around in a semi-circle designed to cover the ground close to the UFO. But that had lagged them and he wondered if he could have done differently, so that his own platoon could have given some assistance and avoided the number of casualties. There were two dead troopers already, Hanley would die unless they flew him immediately back to base and three others were injured. He still had more than enough men and women to finish the job but two squads would be out of action for a while. Putting out such thoughts, he started issuing orders to White: "First and Second Platoons secure the UFO. Epsilon squad, link with Second Platoon and assist them. Hopkins, the same with First. Patterson, contact the Rangers and tell one of them to come back here to immediately fly the injured back to the nearest military medical facility". 

As he finished, he looked around. Crossett was close to him, keeping a watch over any possible threat. The troopers from Omega were doing the same, hidden in concealed positions. No Snakemen or Chrysallid would be able to miss the snipers and sneak on them. Patterson moved closer. "Colonel, the Skyranger is about to lift off and join us, but the pilot says that the scientist has boarded the plane and is insisting to come along and refusing to leave". Suppressing a chill of rage, he wanted to tell her to piss off but he thought otherwise after a second. "Tell him that she can come but at her own responsibility and drop her off at the location of the First. It's time she sees what we do here".

As soon as the order came, Zeta and Phi squads had already closed with the twin doors on their 'wing' and were standing close by the entrance, the troopers and their weapons ready to get inside. Markovitch gave a nod to Krenon, who was on the other side of the doors, and the platoon sergeant used his metal hand to activate the doors of the UFO. With a whooshing sound, they disappeared upwards, revealing a small chamber filled with reddish smoke. Three dead Snakemen were lying on the ground, their bodies wrecked by the grenade explosions, together with the remains of some sort of alien equipment on the side opposed to the doors. Looking closer, Markovitch saw that the wing was connected to the main body through a large corridor, in no doubt the arm that linked both sections. With a hand sign, she ordered the rest of her squad to move inside and cover the passageway. The X-Com soldiers quickly rushed and when they reached their positions, Markovitch followed them.

Looking over the corridor to the main body, Prune signaled her that it looked clear. She nodded and he quickly dashed to the other side of the chamber, keeping a crouched position as he crossed the entrance. The X-Com Captain moved over to his former position and looked. The lower middle section of the UFO had apparently suffered extensive damage on the crash, since the whole area showed signs of massive explosions. There were few remaining walls that where standing up, while there was no sign of the propulsion systems. The only piece of equipment that seemed to be intact was the elevator to the upper level, whose violet light was burning brightly on the middle of the craft, indicating the location that the aliens used to move through the levels of the UFO. 

No Snakeman or Chrysallids were visible and she ordered Krenon to move inside as she and the remainder of her squad joined Prune, one by one on the other side of the chamber. Resting her back on the UFO's wall, she activated her radio. "Jerrel, where are you?" The response came immediately: "Coming through the other doors, no aliens on this chamber".  

"There's an elevator on the middle. We are going to move toward it. Watch your fire". Padding Prune on the shoulder, she pointed him to move forward with her thumb. The squaddie moved carefully into the corridor, holding his laser rifle on both hands, step by step, followed by Dare and herself. She was halfway when she suddenly saw a green plasma bolt coming from the ceiling and hitting Prune's left shoulder. The soldier's legs faltered but he managed to keep standing up while bringing his laser rifle on the direction of the shot. Dare immediately looked upwards and saw that there was an upper chamber, where a Snakeman was standing on a platform ten feet above them. Both soldiers fired their weapons at the same time and the alien crashed to the ground level right in front of them.

Markovitch rushed forward and saw that there was a door on the higher chamber, in no doubt linking it to the rest of the upper level. It seemed to have been designed to ambush any intruders or at least it served that purpose perfectly. "Jerrel, watch out for the end of the corridor!"

Rodriguez was almost reaching the end of the corridor when Markovitch's warning came. He brought his laser rifle upwards and saw what the Captain meant. However, the platform on this side seemed empty.  He relaxed his shoulders for a second, but the sound of something hitting the floor on his back made him shiver. He quickly turned, but the only thing he saw was a Chrysallid being hit on his side by a shot from the Captain's plasma rifle. The alien trembled and dropped the pointed arm that was about to cut through Rodriguez's back. Another shot killed it and the alien gave a terrifying shriek.

Looking over to the other side of the UFO, Markovitch had seen the Chrysallid leaping down, but before she could shout a warning the monster had already been hit. She tried to point her own weapon but refrained from shooting for fear that she might hit somebody from the other platoon. As the alien was finally killed, she looked upwards he saw that there was another upper platform on the other side, but only this one had no door. "How the hell did that thing got there?" The platforms were too high for a human to reach, so there was only one way upwards. "Krenon, join Captain Jerrel on the elevator. We are staying here to take care of Prune and watch those doors".

When the Sergeant reached the middle of the UFO, Captain Jerrel, Jones and Rodriguez were already standing close to it, with Alpha squad also remaining behind. One by one they placed themselves on the violet light and moved their arms upwards, and the antigravity device brought each of them upwards in a quick movement. When Jones reached the upper level he was on guard but he saw that they were in a small chamber, directly facing a door. He cleared the violet light and joined Rodriguez by the side of the entrance. Both soldiers then opened it and brought their weapons while taking a peak. Jones saw that there was a door standing directly in front of them, while they were standing in the middle of a small corridor, each side ending on a T. They started moving, leaving the door to the team members that were right behind them. When Jones reached its end, he ignored the right as the call came. "Chamber in front of lift clear. Door on each side". 

Standing against the wall and looking over his shoulder, he saw the door that connected to the platform that they had seen on the lower level. He also saw the front chamber of the craft, with pink consoles and blue seats. And a couple of figures standing on their tails and holding weapons. A plasma shot grazed the wall of the corridor close to him. "Aliens on the front chamber!" He shouted.

"No kidding!" Rodriguez' voice was followed by sound of plasma fire coming from the other side of the corridor and he guessed the other trooper had also spotted aliens on that end. "Fire in the hole!" The Hispanic called and an explosion followed it.

Taking another look, Jones saw that the chamber was now filled with smoke and there was a figure rushing on his direction down the small corridor. He drew his laser rifle and fired a single shot. The Snakeman dropped to the ground with a garbled sound and the alien lay there, releasing a green fluid from several injuries on his body and with its slithered tongue coming out of his opened mouth. Jones moved forward the corridor and saw that Rodriguez's grenade had killed the remaining aliens on the bridge of the UFO. Two of them were standing on the ground among the wrecked consoles, together with three heavy plasmas. "Bridge clear!" He called and a feeling of relief came over him. As Captain Jerrel down the corridor to join him, the officer's armored feet stepped on the tail of the alien that Jones had killed. The Snakemen emitted a small sound and Jones pointed his weapon back at him, but the Captain ordered him to stand down. "Easy soldier. We just got ourselves a prisoner here". Jones dropped down the weapon and looked around; trying to calm down in spite of the adrenaline rush he was feeling. 

A few minutes later, as the Skyranger landed right next to the UFO's left wing was opening its ramp, Sergeant Hopkins was right beside it, waiting to have the injured as quickly inside as possible. His squad was keeping a watch but he also didn't like to have civilians running around, although the UFO had already been secured. When the ramp was fully deployed, he saw the figure in blue onboard looking in shock as the X-Com troopers paid no attention to her and rushed their injured comrades to the inside.

He called to her. "Doctor, if you want to stay please disembark the plane. We are in a hurry to take those men to the nearest hospital". Eva Johannes moved down the ramp and as she approached the Sergeant he moved her to a clear position for the Skyranger's takeoff. As soon as the plane lifted itself and the engine's noise begun to disappear in the distance she turned to the Hopkins and asked, still in a state of dismay: "What has happened?"

The Sergeant gave her a careful look before replying: "War, doctor. We kill them, they kill us. It's as simply as that. Makes you think when you get this close, hum?"

She didn't reply to him and looked around at the direction of the UFO. He spoke to her. "It's clear already, but I'm afraid there's nothing much for you to see inside. See, m'am the crash kinda bounced the inside a bit and our troopers pretty much shot the inside to get rid of all the snakes inside". He gently grabbed her armored arm and brought her close to two forms covered by black plastic sheets. "However, as a scientist you might be interested on this". Grabbing one of the tarps he pulled it to reveal the remains of private Martin's remains, with the dead Chrysallid still sticking out of its back from where it was starting to emerge. 

Nausea swept over her and she turned her head around in disgust. "Why are you doing this, soldier?" Hopkins put the cover back into the body and replied to her. "It's Sergeant Hopkins m'am. You are here because you wanted to. I'm only giving you a full tour of the show". 

"Sergeant Hopkins, I'm only trying to do my work around here. If you and the Colonel don't appreciate it…." Hopkins stopped her in the middle of her speech. "You get the whole thing wrong, m'am. Every damn soldier on this outfit knows how important your work is. You gotta us the nice power suits and the plasma weapons and all the nice other little things that sure gave us more chances went facing this bastards. However, I've been listening to the complaints coming from the Colonel and other officers about you. We are not killing machines or mercenaries, miss Johannes. Like every man and woman on this base, I would prefer to sit back on my couch back at my home in Chicago and watch all of this on TV with a six-pack, instead of being here risking my behind fighting these things. We don't do this for fun but someone has to do it, even though it might mean that I can end up like poor private Martin here, let his soul rest now on wherever it might be".

She looked back at him, thinking. "I think I understand what you are trying to say, Sergeant". He grinned back at her. "You probably are, m'am. Dumbness doesn't affect just grunts, but at least rocket scientists have more practice in using their brains".

Johannes didn't understood immediately his verbal jab, looking back at him in puzzlement until a thin smile appeared on her lips. "Now, the boys inside the tin can have captured a prisoner and are bringing it out. Do you care to take a look at him? Don't worry, it's only one of the Snakes". She looked at the side, towards the doors of the UFO. A couple of minutes later they opened, revealing several human figures clad in power armor and the captured alien.

She had never seen before an alien, except the dead ones frozen in the containment vats back at Mother One. Her specialty wasn't xenobiology so she never had to do any work with extraterrestrial life forms, either live or dead. The orange and beige Snakeman that was coming out seemed to be big. Most of the soldiers on the base were taller than her and this alien was about the average height of the humans that were keeping it under restrain. She could clearly see from where the name had come. The alien kept an upright position through the lower part of his body, which seemed to consist of a very tough and muscular tail, sweeping the ground as it moved forward. However, it would tremble from time to time and slow its pace, indicating that it was probably injured.

The X-Com troopers had applied some sort of bondage across its chest to keep the arms restrained and where directing it through threatening movements of their weapons. The alien would occasionally turn its nearly triangular head and hiss back at them, showing its fangs and bringing out its slithered tongue. "Lord…." That comment made Hopkins turn back to her. "Nasty, aren't they? But don't worry. Any trained man in a power suit can physically overwhelm one of these. Mutons are another story, of course, from what we've heard on the attack on the Japanese base".

The X-Com troopers pushed the alien past her and she took notice of a disgusting, musky smell that almost overwhelmed her, making her frown. She turned to Hopkins: "Sergeant, can I now see the inside of the UFO?" He looked back at her. "Better if you get some respiratory equipment first. A piece of alien equipment near one of the entrances has released some sort of fumes after getting hit by a stray plasma blast. Our suits are environmentally sealed, but that old armor you're wearing won't do you any good in case the aliens were carrying nerve gas or some other nasty stuff inside those cylinders". 

She shook her head in disbelief, since it would mean that she would have to wait for the arrival of the disposal team. Hopkins gave one last look at her and excused himself to get the squads ready to fly back to the base. 

July 6th, 2000

Area 51, Nevada, US

The corridors near the section of the base that housed the alien containment were usually deserted of X-Com personnel, who preferred to take a longer route to their destinations than to come nearby the place. Occasionally a technician or soldier would pass by the armored doors and wonder in curiosity of what might be going on inside that section of the base, but since the entry it was restricted to the scientists or anyone possessing an special authorization from the base commander, he or she would simply look at the bored sentry sitting on a glass booth next to the doors and go on to where he was heading.

If someone possessed a clearance, the security trooper clad in black fatigues and wearing the Theta Greek letter that identified him as belonging to the base security company would carefully inspect it and confirm it through a series of calls. If the authorization was correct, the visitor would find on the other side of the heavily reinforced security doors two fully armed troopers in power suits to prevent that any of the enclosured aliens might escape. The section had been recently built and was completely isolated and it possessed its own power and air regeneration system. Its doors couldn't be opened from the inside and the personnel who worked inside had to contact the booth outside for clearance.

Presently there were a number of visitors inside, looking at one of the restrainingh areas where the captured Snakeman was being held through a thick glass panel. Dr. Mantell was giving a detailed explanation of their findings so far to the group, that included Johnson, Dr. Young, Pharris, Davis and Colonel Robinson, the X-Com's chief intelligence officer, and they were quietly listening to the explanation.

"Gentlemen, I've asked for your presence here because there seems to be more to this particular alien that is visible to our eyes", Mantell started. "Our initial findings merely confirmed what we knew about this alien species. It has a strong complexion, enabling it to resist extreme heat and cold. Most likely it evolved in an extremely tough habitat, where the reptiles, not the mammals came to develop intelligence. But of that we can't be sure, due to the fact that we have determined that these species are under the control of some sort of Intelligence. In other words, we can't be sure that their intelligence has come through a natural process or if it is the result of some sort of experimentation made by the aliens. Some of them have been found to have been surgically altered, such as the Floaters or the Mutons, whose relation between the mass of the brain and the body doesn't seem to allow them to have cognitive thinking".

The men present nodded but kept silent and Mantell kept on with his explanation. "Regardless of that, our initial tests with this alien have shown some surprising results. Our biological and behavior tests have already determined that this species is somewhat intelligent in general, although it doesn't seem to match an average human. But this particular alien, however, is of a special breed. It has shown impressive mathematical skills and general reactions. We first thought it was one of their technicians, like the Sectoid captured by the Japanese team last that provided us with many of the data we know about the scout ships the aliens use. However, we are now inclined to think otherwise and that's why I asked for your presence here".

Robinson turned his head from the alien to the doctor and raised an eyebrow. "A commanding officer of some sort?" Mantell thought about that new possibility for a second and replied. "Unlikely. We made an extrapolation of a Snakeman officer physical and intelligence skills, based on the differences recorded in the case of the Floater officer captured and this specimen falls short in some areas. I concede these are more educated guesses than actual firm scientific evidence, but I'm still more inclined into other possibilities such as a pilot". 

"One of their fighter jocks?" Johnson asked but the reply came from Dr. Young. "I think the more accurate term would be navigator". The two Colonels and Pharris now switched their attention to the other scientist and Robinson asked. "I thought your work was related to the Firestorm project, Doctor. How come you are involved into this research?"

That question brought concern to Johnson's mind. Beside himself and the hybrids, no other human knew about the secret that General Smith was hiding at Area 51 until his betrayal concerning Dr. Young and a number of the research personnel.  He wasn't sorry for his decision since the hybrids had struck to their part of the deal and had proven their worth dozens of times in the research projects going on at the base. But it was all dependant on the fact that no one else knew of their existence and Robinson had been hired because of his ability to uncover secrets.

Young replied in a casual tone.  "I have been involved because of my work regarding alien UFO systems. Dr. Mantell asked for my cooperation to develop tests capable of determining the skill of a particular alien since I fairly know the abilities necessary to run such systems". Robinson nodded and he continued. "We have determined that this alien has all the skills for a pilot, or a fighter jock, as the Colonel put it, but we believe that he is responsible for more than just flying an UFO around. Dr. Mantell and I then decided to request the service of someone experiment at conducting interrogations and we called for Mr. Davis help, since this was getting more into your department's area, Colonel Robinson".

"I haven't presented the full report yet sir because we only finished the interrogation last night Colonel. The briefing will be on your desk this afternoon". Davis added at Robinson's not very pleased look. "The information the alien gave us have merely confirmed what we already knew about the purpose of the terror attacks: they are being done to put political pressure upon Earth's nations and to convince them that any resistance is futile. We have seen already its results in the case of Nigeria: their withdrawal from X-Com resulted from the massacre the alien committed in Lagos when the Sectoids attacked that city. Not something that we didn't knew already".

Young picked up from Davis. "But what is more curious is that this alien had precise information about their target: the UFO had been ordered to strike at Dallas, according to the coordinates supplied by the alien. Now, the coordinates given to us are roughly correspondent to our own latitude/longitude but they must be using their own scale".

Pharris slowly exhaled in admiration. "Then they might be also in the alien's operating system and we now know what to look for. Pretty impressive doctor". The scientist smiled. "There's more: the alien also confirmed the existence of the transponder that your whiz kid Landon has hinted at. According to him the UFOs are in constant communication with one another, identifying one another and transmitting data".

"But where? No one has ever picked any alien transmissions! When this whole thing started, we at the NSA put the ECHELON system trying to listen to any noise made from them". Pharris was referring the US global surveillance system that had been originally designed and deployed in the Cold War to intercept Eastern Bloc communications. 

Dr. Young shook his head. "I don't think they could. The system is designed to intercept and decode human communications, which are based upon the electromagnetic spectrum such as radio waves and laser bursts".

"And not to mention SETI", Mantell added. "The several groups involved have been listening for quite a white, trying to pick signals coming from an extraterrestrial civilization. If the aliens were using conventional wavelengths their transmissions would be picked up".

"Wait a minute", Johnson interrupted, "we know that the UFOs talk to one another. Why don't you just disassemble one of the UFOs and find out how they are doing it?"

"We have Colonel and there isn't anything like an emitter or receiver. This whole matter has puzzled us from ever since we captured the first UFO". Both Mantell and Young seemed frustrated. 

"And even with Landon's help we haven't been able to find it out also. There are still a lot of things that we have no idea of what is their purpose. Hell, some of the stuff we can replicate by reverse engineering, but we don't know of how it works!" Pharris shook his head. 

Robinson concluded the discussion. "These findings need to go into the UFOpedia at once. I will endorse that we shift more of our research efforts into discovering how their communication systems operate. We need that information". 

July 10th, 2000

Charlottesville, Virginia, US

The City Hall of the town of Charlottesville had a special visitor, Charles Vaughn, the governor of NY who had won the Republican Party's ticket to the upcoming presidential election. In front of the colonial building the US flag was standing in a pole, waving as a light summer breeze eased the noon's heat, flanked by the flags of the state of Virginia and of the city. The event had been presented to the press as a political rally meeting and also that the Governor would make an important statement about his future security policies when he won the election.

A podium had been set on the top of the stairs that led into the building, in the front of a banner placed upon the classic columns that made the front of the city hall. Local police and members of the Secret Service were standing around, keeping an eye on the crowd that filled the parking lot, waving flags and holding support posters with Vaughn's face. 

The Republican candidate political career had already been quite impressive. He had managed to get himself elected as governor of New York, a state traditionally more inclined to go for the Democrats. But a financial scandal had ruined his predecessor in the office and he had defeated his lieutenant in the elections a few months afterwards. More impressively than that, he had managed to get himself re-elected for a second mandate as Governor. And now it seemed that Vaughn had his eyes set upon the White House: he had won the Republican primaries without much effort, easily defeating the other candidates.

Visually, his physical appearance was striking: the governor was tall and well built, with most of his hair already turned into white on the sides and back. His nose was straight and well defined and his eyes dark, with heavy eyebrows. Blake thought that he sure was appealing to the cameras, but that also applied to the Democratic candidate, the current Vice-President. He hadn't applied to cover this event, but the woman journalism assigned had called in sick this morning, leaving him to drive all the way to Virginia. He was standing in the front of the crowd, in the space reserved to the press that had been separated from the cheering spectators by lines.

When Vaughn finally appeared on the stage, after being presented by the local mayor, the whole crowd went wild and Blake wished that the whole thing would be over quick. The photographer from the _Post who had come with him immediately went to work taking pictures, while the camera crews started rolling._

The Governor had chosen to dress casually for the occasion; a smart decision in Blake's opinion since the heat was making his life miserably, already his shirt was sticking with sweat to his chest and back. He waved backwards until reaching the small podium where he stood smiling and waiting for the noise to subside.

The most of his speech regarded declarations about the nation's economy, federal government and family values, and in Blake's opinion they added nothing new to what he had already stated several times in the past. Noting that Vaughn was reading from a typed speech he only made sure that his tape recorder was working properly, not bothering to take any notes since the campaign organizers would provide the press copies of the speech afterwards.

After half an hour, Blake wished that he had brought some refreshments because he was too thirsty. However his thoughts of getting some water or a soda dissipated as Vaughn stopped looking from the speech on the podium and turned to look directly at the assembly downstairs. "Now I must say some words about the insecurity that we are feeling as a nation. We have for long harbored the thought of extraterrestrial life may exist. The government since the fifties has spent millions of tax dollars. First to determine if the so-called UFO phenomenon did exist and later to see if we could be able to pick space signals from distant alien civilizations. Such past investigations have proven themselves inconclusive. But now there has been an official recognition of that there are unknown craft in our skies, of which we know nothing of their intentions or occupants. This description could apply to a lot of situations my fellow Americans, from reconnaissance flights from a hostile country, like the days of the Cold War or to the government line that extraterrestrial beings exist and are happily flying around over us.

This can't go on anymore, I say. Our government should fully explain this situation and what steps are being made to resolve it, without covering it in a cloud of secrecy. In no doubt there are national security interests involved, but this situation must be resolved so that we can go on with our lives, taking care of our families and improving our country.  Thank you very much for being here today and for your support. God bless you all!"

The band on the side immediately started playing a merry music and everyone in the crowd turned to cheering, while the press members tried to pose questions to Vaughn, who simply ignored them and kept smiling and wavering back. Blake finally stopped shouting when he left the stage after a couple of minutes. _What does Vaughn know? Could this mean that there really are no aliens involved? That it might be something like that government infomer told me, that the UFOs are the work of some country? He asked to himself and them started walking back to his car, wondering what was really going on. _

July 12th, 2000

The White House, Washington D.C., US

To say that Longstreet was furious was to make an obvious understatement: when the Vice-President finally arrived at the Oval Office, Winston and May knew that the man had probably spend the last days keeping a steady and happy face for the cameras during his trip to the Western states as Vaughn's speech had been played over the major networks. But now he could finally get it all out and he did: 

"That dirty sonofabitch! Who does he think he his?!"

"George, calm down", the President started, trying to do the impossible. "That was nasty for him to do, I completely agree with you, but…."

"No buts, John! He is saying that we aren't doing anything, when it's exactly the opposite and he knows it, he has been briefed! You need to go public on the existence of X-Com and what has happened so far! It's the only way that we can clear my campaign of those allegations!"

"Now, wait right there, Mr. Vice-President, this has nothing to do with politics". May cut him. "There are security and national needs for this course of action and we can't just throw them away to insure your victory in the election".

Longstreet threw a look at her that would have blasted through a rock wall. "I need something! I just can't brush off the reporters' questions anymore with your 'national security' excuses anymore!"

Winston let out of a deep breath. "George, I understand how you may be feeling and I share also of your indignation. In my entire career this has been of the lowest political tricks I've seen but I'm sure that you will be able to overcome it. You are a fighter George and you won't let this get you down".

Longstreet waved him off. "Oh, just cut it out John! You don't have anything to worry about because after January you will be able to nicely retire from politics after your two successful mandates. For me, it's either trying to get back to the Senate or I'm done also. It's all the same to you". He started heading towards the door.

"George, what are you going to do?" Winston asked him, as he was about to reach the door. "Don't' worry John, I know my duty first. And I sure hope that the bastard knows his also, because if he gets elected on the account of this, he will surely regret the whole mess he has gotten himself into". He left, leaving Winston with his thoughts.

After a second May turned to him and said. "You did the right thing Mr. President. You can help in later on the campaign but right now, there's nothing to do about this whole matter". Turning to her, Winston still tried to put his consciousness at ease. "But why can't we do like that CIA analyst said, to start revealing more information about the war and the aliens?"

"Mr. Williams' opinions are biased. He was spent too much time involved with X-Com and is unable to separate our own national interests from the ones of that force. Actually, I believe Governor Vaughn just bought us more time: sure, this affair has made it to creep back into the political agenda, but like now it has become more open at the same time and that will satisfy some of the voices that oppose our opinions. Everyone know will be waiting for the next President to be more involved on the subject and that will put the political pressure off us. There will be few incidents that get to the press but pretty soon people will start to pay less attention to them and get more into their lives, specially if the economy keeps on slowing down". 

Winston sighed and nodded. She was right telling that in a few months time he would haven't to worry with the whole thing anymore. He only wished that he could enjoy his retirement from office afterwards. 

André Galvão, 2002 


	21. A Dark Shadow

X-Com – The Unknown Menace

Chapter Twenty – A Dark Shadow

July 26th, 2000

Unknown location, Geneva, Switzerland

The meeting had been scheduled for many months in advance and the agenda already decided by unspoken consensus, defined by the time and events that had occurred meanwhile. The major part of the plan was starting to unfold itself and the lack of necessity for the reunion to take place before was a sign to number Two that everyone seated on the large room thought that things were going as planned, with the minor deviancies allowed. That was not his personal belief though. The aliens, as always, were too elusive, too dark in their own purposes and how they persued the installment of their plans. Their will was to conquer, to absorve, the Earth's nations to survive or die fighting. In spite of all they had learned about them there simply had never discovered any way to put pressure on the aliens. Some things worked in one occasion or the other, only to be completely discarded afterwards after they proved ineffectual. But two years after its inception, X-Com was still a thorn on the alien's side, even prompting them to make a retaliatory raid against one of their bases. The after battle reports showed that the teams based there had taken quite a beating and the base facilities had also suffered extensive damage. But to number Two they had also meant that the aliens had considered necessary to use some of their crack troops for the attack, not to mention that the majority of the aliens had been killed on that attack. This was something unheard for him until now. But it wasn't the time to press such concerns or ideas and he kept listening to number Nine's account of the US' political situation.

"The leak also allowed us to perform another task in dealing with the US intelligence machine: the Director of the CIA resigned right afterwards, both for personal reasons and also the blunder of the leak. What it isn't known is that apparently had he some dark secrets, regarding nude pictures of children found on his computer. We just let him and President Winston knew about his dirty vices".

Number Two interjected. "That is hardly enough. As you know their key personnel related to intelligence gathering and evaluation are still at their positions. And the counterintelligence machine will be seeking for the perpetrator of the leak".

Number Seven kept the ugly smile on his face. "They will never find it. We actually tried to devise a way so that the leak and consequent blame would be traced to X-Com, but there was a minimal risk of detection which made us discard it".

"The question is moot". Three had apparently taken the task of moderating the discussion, something usually reserved for One. "The changes will happen too gradually for anyone to take notice. And when they do either it will be too late or they will have to be terminated. We have the key personnel under watch or control. This discussion is related to another item on the agenda and I propose we move to it now, the effects of the official acknowledgement of UFOs. This has been planned in advance and the consequences seem to be what we were expecting. The conditions are set so that we put a greater pressure into the world governments and show their inability to deal with the situation to the public".

"I concur with that assessment", Number Four continued picking up a pause on the other man's speech. "There is growing unrest over the major Russian cities, especially with the insecurity being felt with the announcement of UFOs plus the Chinese crisis and the latest kidnappings and bombings made by Chechen terrorists".

"The Chinese situation nearly got out of our hands". Number Four, a lean Asian with slick white hair countered. "Our friends'", he put emphasis on that word, "and their actions nearly started a war between China and all of the major powers in the area. And their attack on the Japanese base made no sense, except for the explanation that they are testing us. They wanted to see how all of us operate to be better prepared for the take-over".

"They were only interpreting their part of the plan as they seem fit. They have done this before". Nine seemed annoyed at Four's interruption of his close to perfect report. As if it had been rehearsed before, Three also contributed to his speech. "Overall things are proceeding as planned: things in the Middle East are starting to heat up, which will bring into further increases on the oil prices. In Africa the situation is as we have kept it for years: their corrupt leaders are either powerless to deal with the crisis in their own countries or too greedy to think other than themselves. South America will also be hit hard in the future, as soon the credit to sustain their economies dry up". 

"That only leaves the Western countries and the Asian regional powers. So far we haven't seen them yet attain the level of destabilization foreseen". A lesser member asked and Three was quick to answer him, giving him a glance of warning. "Yes. But that soon will change. The plans are already being implemented: we have all the time available before the deadline".

Seeing the rest of the meeting went by, Two kept quiet because he had already assessed that no substantial decisions would came out and decided to speak only when required and listen. Only time would bring any changes and he already knew that you couldn't hasten the passage of the days, only be alert to recognize and act on the decisive moment.

August 3rd, 2000

Mother One, Black Forest, Germany

"Pierre, what are you up to now?" Eva Johannes was feeling tired from her work on the weapons department. The trip to Area 51 had calmed her consciousness about developing the advanced weapons that would equip the new fighters being developed at that facility, but that didn't do much in reducing her workload. She had come to the Elerium test reactor to perform some experiments regarding the regulation of plasma fluxes, only to find out that the French scientist had taken into monopolizing the use of the engine.

Lejeune didn't even look up from the monitors that showed the state of the matter-antimatter taking place inside the large cylinder located on an adjacent room. "This might take a while before I finish Eva".

She moved from the door to his side. "I know! I've checked the assignments: there isn't a single day available this week or the next for anyone else besides you to perform any experiments. Does Dr. Chevereux know about this?"

He dropped his head and swiveled on his chair to face her. "He's too busy to take notice of such matters. How much time do you need?"

"One or two hours to make some verifications". He got up from his chair and went to a water machine at a corner of the room. She sat down on the chair. "What are you doing that is so important?"

He filled a paper cup and swallowed its contents in a single gulp and passed his left hand over his hair. "I'm trying to find out how the Elerium is used for faster than light travel by the aliens". She stopped. "Don't tell me you are going for the Nobel or something like that. That research has been postponed indefinitely by Dr. Chevereux, although he regrets it. First we need to defeat the aliens here".

"Relax Eva, I'm not trying to discover it all at once. But I've come up with some interesting results that might indicate the basic principles, although how they are doing it's a completely different matter". She kept looking at him, waiting for him to continue. "OK, how much do you still believe in Einstein's relativity theory?"

She became puzzled. The question was a sort of a joke between every X-Com scientists, since the research they had done so far had shown a lot of practical holes into what was considered one of mankind's best scientists. "Why are you asking?" 

"We have determined that the Elerium reactors release Cherenkov radiation, from ever since that incident". She nodded. The Elerium engines placed on the UFOs were shielded to contain radiation, but the shielding of the one at Mother One had less containment. The matter-antimatter reaction released various forms of radiation, including the plasma used for the alien weapons. But during one of the experiments a flask containing a liquid had been forgotten inside the chamber, standing close to the uncovered blast window. As soon as the reactor was activated it had started to glow blue, indicating Cherenkov radiation. The phenomenon was common in with used uranium and plutonium conventional nuclear rods. After the fuel on the rods had been spent, they would be taken out of the reactor core and left in a water pool to literally 'cool down' its powerful and deathly radiation and heat. The rods emitted high-energy particles such as neutrons and as they passed through the water they would release some of their energy, resulting in a blue glow coming from the cooling pools. The radiation was named Cherenkov, in the name of its discoverer. It also made everyone present in the lab almost panic, since it meant that they were also being bombarded by nuclear radiation. Fortunately the medical examinations had shown that their bodies hadn't absorbed any harmful doses.

"A few months afterwards I found myself wondering from where that radiation was coming from. The breakdown of E-115 isn't a fission reaction, as we know. However, the levels of emission of known nuclear particles allow us to use it to generate and contain plasma. But the most part breaks down into the generation of the gravitic fields. Could the Cherenkov be coming from them?"

She thought for a second but the answer came quickly to her. "The old question about the graviton. We simply don't have a way to determine if gravity is composed of particles".

"Right. We know how to manipulate the gravity fields and use them to lift a craft, but we just don't know what exactly makes it. What I've tried to do is to see if the unknown force behind the Cherenkov could be a concrete proof of the existence of gravitons". 

"But what does that have to do with faster than light travel? You think the aliens key to interstellar travel relies on the gravitic particles?"

"I don't know yet, but my results have shown that there is something out there emitting that reaction. There's a supercooled liquid hydrogen unit on one of the labs, and I've found out that when the reactor is operating, something travels all the way from this section of the base to there and as it crosses it, there's a residual release of Cherenkov radiation". 

Johannes looked at the reactor: between here and the other labs there was enough shielding to prevent that any known particles traveled that distance without being stopped or absorbed. "I think I'm starting to see what you are talking about", she said in a whisper. 

"However, I don't know for sure yet, but I think it might not be the gravitons or something else, like neutrinos. Of the developments of Einstein's special relativity theory theorizes about the possibility of a particle that could move over light speed in the vacuum and that as it increases its speed it actually releases more energy, the same that we are seeing here with the Cherenkov being emitted".

"You're talking about tachyons". She concluded, thinking about the implications of such a discovery. "You might be into something here Pierre. You better get this online the Ufopedia".

"I will, as soon as you finish over there. What are you up to these days?"

She kept tapping commands into the computer. "Finishing something. The aliens are going to have quite a surprise in the next weeks".

September 4th, 2001

Complex YY-18, Japan

Colonel Yamashita and Councilman Tamako were standing on the middle of the command room from where all UFO intrusions were monitored and subsequent interceptions launched from the inside of the X-Com base. They had been waiting for some hours now until a proper contact would be made for the first operational deployment into combat of their new weapon.

The blueprints for the new craft had been received from Area 51 a month ago, after the X-Com research personnel at that facility had finished testing the crude prototype that they had been built. From since then the engineers had been working almost non-stop into putting the plans into reality, using the materials being flown to Complex YY-18 from a major airlift coming from a number of X-Com bases around the world. The former Sony and Toyota engineers had been successful: a circular shaped craft now rested in one's of the base's hangar, with its pilot inside, ready for an interception. But they didn't want to take one of the slower UFOs. Instead, Commander Illyuschenko had ordered that the interceptor should be used in trying to bring down the elusive alien craft that flew too high and too fast for the F-22s to catch.

Two contacts had already been detected that morning, one of a scout sized craft heading for the Korean Peninsula and now a larger UFO on its way to the Yangtzee river valley in China. Yamashita had scrambled one of the interceptors against the smaller contact but had to let the larger UFO reach its destination, since he had strict orders for his planes to avoid Chinese airspace to prevent any incidents from happening. 

Then suddenly a red contact made itself visible on the upper section of the massive computer generated image that they were looking at, showing parts of Mainland China, the Korean Peninsula and the Japanese Islands. "Colonel, radar shows a large scout type UFO, speed over Mach Five, altitude fifty thousand plus, probably heading for the Philippines or Indonesia. They will overfly Okinawa in ten minutes". The officer in charge of the air defense center shouted.

Yamashita looked at Tamako but the man simply reached for a pocket in the front of his suit and took out a golden cigarette case. "Feed the coordinates to Firestorm One and order it to launch immediately". The officer nodded and reached for the nearest radio.

"Now we shall see if all the money and effort we put into this thing will work out". He spoke to the councilman, who seemed to be busier trying to get his lighter to function. When he finally got it working he lighted the completely white cigarette and took a deep drag, only bothering to answer afterwards. "You have doubts Colonel?"

"No councilman, but if I was the aliens this would sure get my attention if we succeed". 

Over the Sea of Japan, hundred miles south of Okinawa

Captain Yanida was having the ride of his life, some thirty thousand feet above sea level and still ascending at what looked to him an impossible climbing rate. His speed was over Mach five and still increasing, something that went against any notions he had learned about manned flight. In a conventional flight that speed would have pressed him against the pilot's seat by the multiple g's we would be pushing, but no effect of the acceleration was felt on the inside of the craft.

Yanida was seated a conventional pilot chair, fully equipped with an emergency parachute that would sent him downwards and through a opening on the bottom of the craft that would open if he had to bail out. But that was the only thing in common with the F-22s he was used to pilot. He had entered the Firestorm through a ladder on the bottom of the craft and went he looked around he wondered what the people who had designed the cockpit were thinking of. The Firestorm had about some ten feet in diameter and its interior was divided into two sections, a smaller one that housed the pilot and the navigational equipment, while the Elerium engine and plasma beam weapons where on the back. Besides the seat, there was only a console in front of him, from where a liquid crystal display unit came, large enough to fill the pilot's visual camp. That was the only contact with the reality outside that he had. The advanced computer in front of him would project a compressed image of the view in front of the craft, or of any direction the pilot required, through the push of a button on the console.

And there were no control and speed sticks, something that made Yanida feel very weird. He had a helmet placed upon his head that would detect the movements made by his hands and arms and correspondingly direct the craft. A push forward with his left hand close and he would accelerate the Firestorm. The same motion backwards with the hand balled into a fist and he would reduce the motion. Movements to the sides and up and down would move the craft into that direction. And for firing he only would have to point to the target with his eyes and ball his right hand into a fist, while pressing the thumb.

The flight engineers had explained that the Firestorms would act more like a spacecraft, since Earth's gravity would be nullified by the anti-gravity waved generated by the Elerium engine as it responded to the pilot's commands. The only operational restrains were caused by Earth's atmosphere since the interaction of the oxygen and nitrogen molecules in the air with the gravitic field would increase in a geometric proportion with the speed and after a while be enough to cause a massive turbulence that could sent the craft out of control.

Someone at the briefings had asked about the possibility of taking the Firestorm out of the atmosphere and how it would react over there, since the vacuum of space would take out that restrain. At that point the Colonel had merely jumped into the briefing and explained, that while it was theoretically possible, the craft's limited range could leave the pilot stranded in Earth's orbit. "And _if_ you ever get back, when me and Commander Illyuschenko are done with you, you will wish you haven't gotten back".

But that wasn't on Yanida's intentions. Being the top fighter pilot at Complex YY-18 and showing the most promising results in the computer simulations he had went through in his training about the man-built UFO, he had been the one chosen for this interception. The first aerospatial interception! And using an UFO similar to the aliens!

His radio cracked open. "Firestorm Zero-One, your range to the target is seventy miles. Weapons are free. I repeat weapons are free. You're authorized to engage the target. The Colonel wishes you good luck". 

"Transmission received, beginning attack". The computer-generated image in front of him changed itself to give him more information about the target. A number of possible attack patterns suggested by the machine appeared on the left side of the display, together with estimations of the probability of success to hit with the plasma cannons using each maneuver. Yanida went for the straight course for its target, since the UFO was lightly armed and the Firestorm was well out of range of its weapons.

More than a seventy kilometers away from the location of the Firestorm, a flight of F-8II Finback Chinese fighter planes was on their way to head back to their base after being deployed to cover the approach of the UFO who was now about to land in Western China. The leader of the formation had wondered why the air controller had ordered them to stand in their stations as long as possible. That was until he had seen the luminous path carved on Earth's atmosphere as the Firestorm streaked towards its target, a small bright light set upon the light blue horizon made by the ionized atoms as they collided with the anti-gravity field that seemed to be moving at an impossible speed for the planes under his formation to follow. 

He wondered what was High Command's interest in the flight path of this particular UFO, since it seemed that the craft was bound to space. But knowing it better not to ask many questions, he just hung there as much as possible although the status of his fuel tanks was almost bingo, meaning that soon he would have to turn back. 

Unaware of the Chinese planes, the Firestorm kept racing upwards, with Yanida making small corrections on its flight path to match the UFO's course. When the range approached 52 kilometers, a small whining noise suddenly started to be heard in his ear receivers, telling him that he had reached maximum range for the plasma beam cannons.

Putting both his hands into fists, he pointed forward with his index fingers to arm the cannons. On both sides of the craft and above him, the openings on the fuselage for the weapons opened, revealing the nozzle of the barrels fed by the Elerium engine. He was unconsciously waiting that it would increase his atmospheric drag and reduce his speed, but the anti-gravity field kept most of the air from contacting with the fuselage, which surprised him as the Firestorm kept smoothly on its path.

Locking the gun sight projected on the display, he pressed with his right thumb on his hand and then waited three seconds before doing the same with his left one. Above him, the a flux of ionized particles coming from the matter-antimatter reaction on Elerium engine was compressed by electromagnetic fields and projected forwards by the right plasma cannon at several times the speed of sound, followed by a similar blast. "Banzai! Banzai!" He shouted into the radio. 

As the tight ions traveled through atmosphere in a ball of fire, the ions on the outside collided with the atoms present on the atmosphere and a part of the small energy lost in that reaction consisted of excited photons in a wavelength that gave the plasma its green color. For the Celtic cross type UFO it didn't matter if the beam was green or any color. The first blast shot closely, missing the craft, but the second one hit it right on the behind arm, close to where it linked to the engine room.

As Yanida watched the results of his double volley, he grimaced as he watched his first shot miss but when the second hit, he nearly jumped on his chair. "Base, I've hit it! Getting ready for a second shot!" His eyes flickered to the counter on the left which shown his weapon status waiting for the red "CHARGING" sign to turn into the more friendlier green "READY". But something caught his attention and he quickly turned his vision back to the UFO.

The second plasma blast had cut through the bottom of the Scout and reached the engine, detonating the Elerium that powered the craft and engulfing the UFO on a massive explosion. The aliens inside the room were simply vaporized, unaware of what had happened to them. The force of the detonation overcome the tensional limits of the alien alloys that made the fuselage and the craft broke in the middle, sending each arm spinning to different directions as they fell down towards the Pacific Ocean.

Complex YY-18, Japan

Colonel Yamashita and Councilman Tamako had their eyes completely fixed on the main display, trying to understand what was going on, when a call came that was heard into the entire room through the main speakers. "Base, this is Firestorm Zero-One. UFO is down! I repeat: UFO is down!" 

The two troopers standing outside the command center's doors suddenly heard loud cheering and hands clapping and looked at one another, wondering what had just happened. On the inside, the Councilman fished another cigarette, but before lightening it turned to Yamashita and bowed. "Colonel, on the behalf of the Council please send my congratulations for the pilot and also to Commander Illyuschenko and all of his research personnel. I must say I am most pleased with these results".

Yamashita gave him a short bow. "I shall do so. We will start full production of these craft as soon as possible. The aliens will now pay dearly if they try to overfly our country".

"I shall require estimates of the output of the production line here to present to the Council. They will be satisfied but they will also demand that the Firestorms be deployed as possible to protect their own airspace. There will be some major fighting inside the Council but we have spent our energies well. While all the research might be done in the West, we now have something priceless in Japanese soil: the factory that is building the craft to take the UFOs in equal terms". Tamako paused and looked at the ceiling, lost in a sea of thoughts.

"Exactly what the Kiryu-Kai needed but we couldn't give them. Japan has greatly enhanced his position by joining X-Com". The councilman looked back at Yamashita with a grave expression. "Defend this base and the islands well Colonel. Use any possible means to prevent that the aliens ever manage to hinder our efforts here or all will be lost".

"Like before, now it's only a question of money Councilman. Between the new base defenses we have planned and the Firestorm, any alien craft will be destroyed if they try to strike at us. We only need the necessary funds".

"Indeed and Commander Illyuschenko now has an extra bargaining chip to present in the next Council meeting. He will use it well, I expect, like always". He paused for a minute before taking a step closer to Illyuschenko and bringing his voice down. "In any case, you shall continue our own arrangement. There's no doubt that this will benefit both of us". Yamashita nodded. "Hai".

Over the Sea of Japan

Beside Yanida's, another pair of human eyes had witnessed the shoot down of the alien craft. The leader of the flight of Chinese fighters had ordered the other planes on his formation to return back to the base after having decided that there must be something special about this UFO that made High Command so interested on it. He had kept his F-8 Finback fighter in station as long as he could, disregarding fuel safety margins. If he was wrong in asserting the importance of what he had just filmed, the decision would cost him his career and most likely his life. A court martial would surely follow together with a death sentence. However, his gun camera had captured the flight of the mysterious UFO and the moment when it had discharged its weapons. He was now trying to get to the Chinese mainland and asking the radio controller for an alternate-landing runway before his fuel run out and he would be forced to eject from his jet plane. He had no intention of bailing out in a parachute over the Pacific where there was a good chance that he would never be found. 

September 10th, 2000

Lhassa, Tibet Autonomous Region, People's Republic of China

The former Buddhist monastery on the outskirts of Lhassa had been taken over by the Chinese Army for more than forty years, during the time of the occupation of Tibet. The military hadn't bothered to change the outside of the building, only taking the effort to do some small maintenance. It wasn't one of the largest monasteries that used to house the monks that composed Tibet's theocracy. However, its six stories made an impression on who saw them, standing erect with pointed towers against the bright blue sky, the yellow and the red of its walls still retaining some of the strong colors it once possessed.

But Colonel Chen wasn't impressed neither by the monastery nor by Lhassa itself. He had flown all the way from Beijing to the provincial capital to meet with the alien liaison to the People's Republic. He wished that the man, or to be more correct, that the alien had decided to settle in Beijing instead, like any normal ambassador would do so. Instead he had specifically required to be installed in a remote area and more specifically in Tibet. Unwilling to antagonize their new allies, the Politburo had agreed with the request, making Chen to travel all the way to Lhassa once in a while since he also required that all contacts be made personal. 

The limousine crossed the military checkpoint at the monastery's perimeter after the soldiers checked Chen's credentials. It was hardly necessary since no one else was allowed inside the old building. And that included any humans: the alien had claimed that it needed no support personnel and only a regular set of food and other normal supplies to be delivered on a personal basis. That also irritated Chen since it meant that he couldn't fill the house with undercover agents disguised as servants to determine what the ambassador was up to. 

The car stopped at the front of the building, next to a stairway that led into a covered balcony. After Chen had gotten off, the driver closed the passenger door and went back to his seat, driving the limousine away. A figure robed in yellow and red tunics was waiting for him and Chen froze in puzzlement and irritation wondering how the idiots in the gate had ever allowed one of the damn monks to get inside the place. Only he noticed then that it was the ambassador, dressed as one of those Tibetans that was waiting for him. He moved up the steps.

"Good afternoon General. I hope your flight was pleasant". The envoy greeted him with a bow and extended one of his sickly white hands from the covers of the tunic he was wearing. Chen only grabbed it for a second before taking his own hand away. He only spoke "Ambassador" trying to avoid the alien's violet eyes that seemed to pierce him. For Chen the creature in front of him was a perverty, a mixture of alien and human DNA that made him sick. While overall it could be seen as human, it had a color that made it look more like an albino and had no facial hair at all. He looked instead at the ropes he was wearing.

"Do you like my new garments? I thought it might draw less attention to me here if I dressed as one of the former occupants of this holy place". Chen tried to hide his disgust and wondered if the alien knew something about recent Tibetan history. "A bit archaic perhaps, but my superiors have matters of great concern that they wish to transmit to your masters". 

"Very well. Please do come inside". He took out his arm from the tunic and waved Chen inside. After refusing an offer of tea they both seated in a large room, where ceramic bowls were spread around, holding incense burning. There were no chairs, so they both had to seat cross-legged on cushions placed on the wooden floor.

"Ambassador, my superiors are concerned. They are thinking that the Hierarchy is taking too long to fulfill their part of the agreement, specially relating to the sharing of data between our two nations". The alien sipped some tea before answering. "We aren't aware that there was a precise time table to fulfill. Have we not started the transmission of that some data to your scientists?"

"Yes, but the information is extremely scarce and difficult to understand, according to them. Moreover it deals with subjects related to food production or genetics. There is nothing about…." Chen tried to not mention the subject directly. "…your energy sources or the materials used on the construction of your craft". 

The envoy set down his bowl of tea. "We understood that your nation would have more urgent needs to deal with, namely food production and controlling your population. Moreover, your scientists understanding of our science is still very incomplete and the matters you have brought up upon us are very demanding. You can't run until you've learned to walk General".

"Ambassador, we are surrounded by common enemies. I have brought with me images taken by one of our planes of a new type of craft developed by X-Com. It's similar to the ones your people use and we are defenseless against it. We need that information". Chen tried to keep his anger from showing.

"You are defenseless you say? So far your nation's boundaries haven't been crossed by any of your enemies. Our craft has helped your military forces. Do you call that defenseless?"

"My superiors consider that they have given a great assistance to the Hierarchy. You have been given permission to overfly our territory and perform your activities unhindered". 

The hybrid stirred on his position. "Are you saying to us that you want to forgave our agreement?" 

"Call it a matter of trust, Ambassador. Allies should trust one another without anything that might cast a shadow of doubt between them". Here let him eat that one, Chen told to himself. 

By the response of the hybrid it didn't seemed as if he worried a single bit. "Indeed. I shall relay the concerns of your government to my kind. However there is something that might be done to improve the current situation and clear the shadows that are troubling your government, since you seem so worried about being left defenseless…". When the conversation was over and Chen left the building he wasn't sure of who had benefited more with the outcome. However, the Politburo now had to make some serious decisions on matters that they had managed to avoid so far. 

September 31st, 2000

Geneva, Switzerland

In his role as the acting chairman of the Council of Funding Nations, the UN's Secretary-General had the role of defining the agenda for the monthly sessions, which would be later voted and approved by the members, leading the discussions and ensuring that the voting procedure was conducted properly. It also made him nothing more than a mere secretary in any discussion regarding X-Com's performance. His influence was restrained to outside the doors of the amphitheater, were he would talk and negotiate with each nation individually, besides endorsing or reproving Commander Illyuschenko's actions. But even in that matters he would try to look as neutral as possible since he was sometimes the only bridge existent between the military force's commanders and the Council.

Today's session was only proving to Bomaka how small his role was in the whole affair. By the nature of his position he was constrained in the statements that he could possibly make, under the threat of being completely dismissed by the councilmen inside. And in this particular meeting it seemed that every one of them was more and more egotistical into their particular demands. And as usual, Illyuschenko's personality and attitude wasn't helping.

The day had been long but it seemed to be about to end, with only two more nations to go before they could finish the session. Right now X-Com's subcommander for air operations, a French Colonel named Paqua was replying to the queries made by the Canadian councilman regarding the new X-Com craft that was being developed. The success of the Firestorm had brought many interventions of praise by the part of the Council but some of the nations were questioning the necessity of the new craft that Illyuschenko had proposed to them.

"To conclude, the new Fighter-Transporter will allow us to supplement our current Skyranger capabilities. We will be able to use it to shoot down up to medium-sized UFOs and to deploy immediately a platoon of troops to assault it. The speed of this craft will also allow us to quickly respond to any attack that the aliens decide to perform". Bomaka laid down on his chair, only barely paying attention to the discussion. He was not capable of fully understanding X-Com's operational needs and left that to Illyuschenko and his staff. "As for the Heavy Fighter, we are seriously doubting the abilities of the Firestorm to deal with the very large types of UFOs. The new Fusion missiles, developed after a similar alien weapon, will further enhance the capabilities of Firestorms. However, they will still dwarves compared to the alien Battleships. Finally, both that craft and the Heavy Transport will allow us to have fully aerospatial ability, allowing us to engage UFOs in Earth's orbit. We presently don't possess such a capability, because of the Firestorm's operational constraints. This last craft will also allow us to deploy a short company of troops very quickly anywhere on Earth".

"We still maintain our reservations about the last two projects, Colonel: they seem a waste of money that would be more wisely spent in Firestorm production. From your reports it seems that the aliens hardly use any of their Battleships in their activities on Earth, while we don't understand the use of the Heavy Transport. X-Com's regional commands were designed to ensure that each geographical area could properly defend itself against the alien threat. Your concerns should be more local, not in how to engage the UFOs in space were they don't threaten anyone".

That brought somewhat hot response from Illyuschenko and Bomaka agreed with him. However the facts were that every one of the fourteen councilmen would be more interested in taking care of their own defense first. When the whole argument was finished, and the Canadian councilman finished speaking and sat down, Bomaka merely nodded as the next speaker on the list looked at him. "In concordance to what has been stated by my South African colleague, Egypt also wants to make a strong case on the failure of X-Com to reduce the number of UFO activity emanating from Nigeria. One should think if the Congo base's commander isn't simply incompetent for this position. His order for his team to dust-off when they tried to assault one UFO two weeks ago in Sudan merely shows is cowardliness".

Looking at Illyuschenko, Bomaka already knew his reaction. "Mr. Councilman, as I pointed to the South Africa representative, besides staging a coup d'etat in Nigeria or mounting a full invasion there isn't much more we can do about the fact that they have joined the alien's side. We are running a number of covert operations to retrieve UFO crashes inside their borders but that's about what we can do. And for Colonel Waartens's decision, he fully has my support: the UFO type that they encountered was a Harvester, with more than twenty fully armed Mutons. We were only expecting one of their large scouts, according to the radar information you gave to us. Moreover, the X-Com team on the scene consisted only of a combat platoon. The fact that Waartens realized that to remain in the area was suicide, after losing more than half of his soldiers showed that he took the right decision, otherwise we would have lost the entire team!"

The Egyptian councilman merely replied. "Commander, our objections still remain. As such, we won't further increase our contribution, like South Africa, until we see more positive gestures on X-Com's part to upgrade Africa's defenses". 

"Mr. Aziz", Bomaka intervened, "what do you propose?" The short stubby Egyptian wanted something, he could tell. 

"We have examined the current Firestorm production and deployment proposal submitted by Commander Illyuschenko's staff. It is completely unacceptable that Congo base shall only receive the first craft after the end of the present year while Europe will have a full flight available by that time". Back to leaving Illyuschenko to decide on the matter.

The Russian looked at a sheet that an aide quickly presented to him. "Mr. Councilman, you must have misunderstood our proposal. Mother One will only be housing a full flight by the second quarter of next year".

"I mean Mother One and Stalingrad bases together, Commander! Europe already has a sophisticated air defense network while Africa simply doesn't have the financial resources after decades of Western colonization. And we are seeing the same happening here: The so-called first world is getting the best out of the money everyone is putting into this force". Bomaka wished that the Egyptian hadn't brought into discussion that sensible point. He could see that the argument had struck a point in some of the other nations while the majority of the European countries seemed to look in suspicion. Things were looking ugly.

Illyuschenko looked adamant on his pose. "My operational plans stand. In case you haven't noticed Mr. Aziz, the Firestorm's range and speed more than assures that any UFO threat over your country can be dealt rapidly".

The Egyptian councilman turned his attention from him and looked at Bomaka. "Mr. Chairman I would like to ask for a vote of no-confidence on Commander Illyuschenko". The Secretary-General could see it coming before he had spoken. The day had been long and it would end after the voting process was done. Better to finish it quick. "Very well. Since there's no more interventions scheduled and each country has already announced his financial contributions for next month, shall we call the vote and end this session?"

To his surprise, the Indian councilman got up from his chair and asked permission to speak. Bomaka conceded it and he started. "Before we vote, there's another matter that should be discussed that might have some influence". That raised a couple of eyebrows in the room and shifting on the chairs but Bomaka could see that they were all in the table that he and the X-Com party were occupying. "Councilman Singh, this isn't in the agenda".

"I know, Mr. Secretary, but the information I'm about to present couldn't be presented sooner. However, I'm sure that all of my colleagues will approve of the inclusion in today's session". Seeing how no one raised any objection, Bomaka now knew that it hadn't been proposed before on purpose. Illyuschenko looked at him with a questioning look but he had to approve it.

Singh then presented a CD-ROM disk to the table with information relevant to the question. The disk was introduced and soon appeared the sign of India's counter-intelligence agency. "As you know, during the past year there has been a number of border incidents in my country's Kashmir area, which borders Pakistan, together with a number of guerrilla groups that are operating in the area".

"We are working to surpress the terrorist activity developed by these fanatics but a number of small-scale engagements and bombings have occurred, together with the assassination of local politicians in the area. While all of this is hardly new, we have detected a number of indications that show that the terrorists are using some sort of high technology weapon. Our indications showed that they might had somewhat gained access to a downed UFO. But until now we only had circunstancial evidence". 

He ordered for the CD's contents to be presented. "Until now". A photograph of a rifle appeared projected on the wall. It was all of a metal gray, with a large circular barrel. There was a power cable coming out from the stock that attached itself to a small rectangular unit. 

Bomaka felt that Illyuschenko had nearly jumped on his chair but as he looked to check, the X-Com commander kept his eyes square on the picture.

Looking at everyone in the room, he continued. "In one of our operation we finally captured this. This seems to be a laser weapon, gentlemen. A laser weapon made on _Earth_!" Singh turned to Illyuschenko now and Bomaka could see that they were about to entrap him. "We were told that X-Com's data regarding weapons was put under a tight security. Would you care to explain _this_ to us Commander?"

Illyuschenko looked back at him very carefully studying his answer before replying. "X-Com's scientific data _is_ secure". The answer puzzled Bomaka: unless any nation had developed laser weapons by itself, there was no other way for the rifle in the back of him to have been manufactured unless there had been an unauthorized access to X-Com's data files. Unless there was someone inside X-Com supplying them!

Singh and Illyuschenko had locked themselves into some sort of mental fight. "Yes, we don't believe that such an intrusion had occurred. _However_, we have exchanged information with other nation's intelligence services: it seems that a number of devices like this one have been seen in a number of worldwide conflicts. Apparently there is someone in the possession of a cache of such weapons and selling them in the illegal arms trade market".

"Are you suggesting it is X-Com, Councilman? We don't use that kind of junk: just by the look of it, anyone familiar with our weapons can tell that, technically, they are much more advanced. Just look at the size of that power unit!" Singh just smiled and looked back at Bomaka. "Mr. Secretary, may I propose that we adjourn the rest of this meeting for tomorrow? It's very late already and I believe this whole matter should have enough time to be fully investigated".

Another councilman seconded the motion and Bomaka made the preposition. Like the unexpected statement by Singh, it was approved unanimously. He dismissed the councilmen and seeing them leave, couldn't stop thinking what they had in mind.

Later in the evening, after they all had had dinner and were about to retire for the night, Bomaka watched as a member of the Indian delegation approached Illyuschenko, who seemed about to fulminate him with his glare and spoke to him for a couple of minutes. Watching both men departure from the dining room afterwards, he couldn't stop wonder what surprises would tomorrow bring to him. 

The meeting room chosen by the Indian councilman was sparse in furniture, having barely more than two chairs and a low level table where a crystal flask was set upon, containing a gold liquid inside and two glasses, together with a bowl of ice and a bottle of mineral water. 

When the X-Com Commander entered the room he paused to look around and check the surroundings before sitting in front of Singh. The Indian man offered him a drink, which he was quick to refuse, having already tasted the other man's poison. Helping himself of a whisky on the rocks, Singh started the conversation afterwards. 

"You must be wondering the whole motive behind all of this Commander. Well, the whole matter of the retrieved laser weapons is a cause of great concern to some nations in the Council. They have chosen me to present our point to you, so that you can understand your position".

Illyuschenko kept his mouth quiet and Singh took it as a sign to continue.

"Now Commander, you don't have to be a fully trainer accountant to know that X-Com can't possibly obtain all the financing it needs from the Council's contributions. You have seven bases spread all over the globe, plus a number of secondary facilities deployed to detect any signs of alien activity. 

NASA and the European Space Agency are making a huge profit out of your contracts to launch your own fleet of satellites. Overall your forces employ directly several thousands of men and women, all of them fully skilled and trained: soldiers, scientists, engineers, physicians, intelligence personnel, all of them well paid and with a lot of benefits. 

And to that number one should also add the costs of running a large fleet of advanced aircraft such as the Skyrangers and the F-22's and the money you pay each month for their lease. Plus the quantities paid to use scientific facilities, etc. Shall I continue?"

"What's your point Councilman? Aren't I doing the job that I was assigned to?"

"Yes, but from my country's own calculations, more than half of the funding required to maintain your force is coming from unknown sources, if not more since we don't know the full scope of your operations since it's classified".

Putting down his glass, he leaned forward. "General, if this was a public operation you would have been arrested by now for suspicions of money laundering, illegal arms dealing and a number of other offenses that would warrant you a lifetime in jail. It would unacceptable that the commander of Earth's defenses would be also be engaged in criminal activities to support it".

Illyuschenko wasn't impressed. "Do you have proof of anything that you are saying?"

"Nothing in concrete, besides the recovered laser weapon that we have managed to retrieve. But I'd guess that if someone conducted a full audit into X-Com's finances that some very peculiar book-keeping would be found".

"You can't do that. The Charter specifically states that to maintain operational security all of our records, including the financial ones, can't be accessed without a unanimous decision from the Council. If that information were ever compromised, the enemy's would know everything about the operation. It is what saved us when China and Nigeria defected".

Singh shook his baldhead. "Do you think we aren't considering it back there? Wake up Commander! Right now a lot of countries are feeling nervous that laser weaponry has found its way into the black market. Although there isn't anything to trace it back to X-Com besides the fact that you're the only known force to develop and manufacture such weapons, we all know from where it has come from, even if it isn't one of your latest designs. However, a lot of us is worried that if these weapons are out in the open, who knows what else you might be selling around to finance this war".

"So why are we talking here? Why don't you arrest me?" He leaned back on the chair. "And find someone who can keep the force together at the level I've managed to replace me".

"You are missing the point Commander. But I guess that's because you are from the military: it's no wonder that you should stay away from politics, since you perceive anything against you as threats".

"We both agree with that, Councilman. I have no patience for this sort of games. If you had given me the money I need all instead of bickering the whole time about the insufficient protection you are getting, I could concentrate more in the war".

"As for that matter, I'm sorry to say that X-Com won't get a penny more on this meeting".

He jumped out of his chair and pointed at the man. "What's this then? You're not happy with having me; you all want X-Com also? You might as well get a gun and shoot yourselves in the head!" 

"Commander, please seat down!" For some seconds both men stood staring each other in the eyes, not daring to back off before the other one did.

Without unlocking his gaze, the Indian councilman simply spoke: "I've been here to find a solution for all of this, without the need of a vote of no-confidence or a change in the charter, believe me or not.

In any case, like I said before, you think too much in military terms, where there's a victor and a defeated. If you keep going on like that, it's clear who will suffer defeat. However, in politics there are other ways".

That struck a chord inside Illyuschenko and he realized how hot-tempered he was. Taking a deep breath he sat down again on the chair. "I'm listening". 

"Good". He took out a handkerchief from the chest pocket of his suit and used it to clean the sweat off his forehead. "To be honest, we are not interested in disbanding X-Com. At least for now. With the announcement made some months ago recognizing the existence of the aliens there is pressure for us to present solutions for the matter. If you all went back into normal society the word would leak out about you and we might be risking a situation of hysteria if it was known that such a crisis we had failed to coordinate efforts and to deal with the crisis. It would be bad enough if it was known about China and Nigeria".

"So you can't live without us. What else has changed from the beginning?"

"The descriptions of the data that you have recovered from investigating the aliens are quite disturbing. First of all, have you ever sold any data or Elerium powered equipment?" 

"No. I would have been foolish and insane. Laser weapons are no much different from the general weaponry now available. They have a bit more power and range but they don't make such a difference on the battlefield".

"That is precisely the conclusion that we have come up to. And some of your research is perfectly innocuous and won't change the world from one day to the other if it's released: laser weapons, motion scanners, even alien alloys. But the Elerium is a completely different matter". 

Puzzlement went through Illyuschenko's mind. "Where are you trying to get at?"

"Right now it isn't possible for change a single dot in the Charter so that X-Com could open its research upon these subjects. We have already discussed it between ourselves in closed doors and we found out that we can't reach an agreement on even how to word it. It would have to be something too vague to allow for further harmless investigation to be released and even so some of it could be used into weapons of mass destruction, such as the biological aspects".

"There is no good and bad science: there are only good and bad men who employ it".

"A crude analogy but a correct one. No one here is truly willing to trust the other in that matter. We have seen what happened with the development of nuclear power after World War II. And we see the Elerium as posing exactly the same problem: no one is willing to part with it but each country wouldn't want for its neighbor to have it while they don't".

"For us military it's better if you keep it simple, Councilman. What are you proposing?"

"Basically that you keep your own arms deal that you are conducting but that now you also make it available to each country individually, excluding the ones that aren't a part of the Council. It's bad already that we are being left behind in technological terms concerning the aliens: we can't also be inferior to your buyers. That will also allow us to train forces with the laser weapons and, if necessary present them to the public to assure them that we are working on the matter".

"Wouldn't it be simpler to just announce the existence of X-Com?"

"No. It would be a hell of a political mess right now. One that you'd find yourself stuck up to your neck". 

"We keep all the research still with us?"

"Yes. Each country is still free to conduct their own scientific investigations as it was before".

"And what about the research on Elerium?"

"You will be the only one allowed, as long as you are able to maintain the secret, while the rest of us are banned. We might make an amendment to the Charter specifically stating it, since it won't be in contradiction with the spirit of the treaty. The knowledge you have is too disestablishing right now and you're the only organization that we can trust, since you have managed to contain it for more than two years now. We are willing to maintain the confidence in X-Com". 

"This sounds like a deal made out of hell, Councilman. Do you realize that your countries are about to secretly do the same illegal business that you have accused me in the open?"

The man gave a short laugh. "Keep yourself in the military world Commander. You are too naïve to be a politician".

"Agreed. But I don't understand why the reason of all of this".

"More than anyone else in the world, in the end we care about our own survival. Right now, from what you've shown we are more than convinced that you're the only one that can assure us of that. But don't fail us Commander or you will be quickly found left hung out to dry in the open. The whole purpose of my meeting with you was to make sure that you understood it". 

December 17th, 2000

CIA Headquarters, Langley, Virginia, US

As Major MacAllister walked into his office, Williams got up from his desk to greet him, both men shaking their hands before seating down. It had been a while since he had seen the DIA officer and apparently some changes had happened: MacAllister seemed to be more reserved, still tucked into his uniform but not showing the same openness that they had shared before. The initial assessment group put together by the former Director of Central Intelligence had long split, shortly after X-Com had been formed. Pharris and Davis had left to join X-Com while he remained in Langley and MacAllister was assigned to the Pentagon to Planning and Operations. To Williams knowledge they were busy gathering all available information regarding the aliens and X-Com's tactics to prepare the US military in case they ever had to deal directly with the extraterrestrials. 

Looking around the office, MacAllister smiled afterwards. "It's been a while since I've been here". Looking at the picture of Williams with his wife, Betty and their two kids he smiled and asked: "How are they doing?"

"Great. David keeps on asking me a lot of questions about the aliens while Anne is now at kindergarten. And Betty has gone back to college: she's working for a Masters now". Seeing his friend nod back in approval, he asked: "And how are you doing Mac? You haven't returned any of my calls for a while until two days ago. Is this just to wish me a merry Christmas?"

MacAllister made an uncomfortable face, which made Williams concerned. The other man clearly wasn't at ease with something. "Yeah, let's just say that I felt it better if I could have a word with you to let you know of some things".

"I'm all hears Mac. Is it something about Paula? Are you guys OK?"

"No, we're fine also but thanks for asking". He looked up in the air. "How can I put it? Let's just say that this is more of a professional matter". 

"I see…Something to do with our work?" 

"Something that could affect your work. It has already changed mine".

"Mac, stop beating around the bush". The Major tried to smile. "Well I take that you have listened to the main topic of the news lately".

Williams thought for a moment, mentally sorting through the stories that had caught the media's attention lately. "You mean the presidential election?" Seeing in nodding in agreement, he felt curious of why he was mentioning it. "What's so special? Longstreet conceded to Vaughn after the federal court stopped the vote recount. I think he did the right thing so that the nation doesn't think that Vaughn was the wrong winner. I'd prefer Longstreet to replace Winston but now it's past and we need to focus on the alien threat. The rest is all technicalities of our election system to be discussed along the political scientists. Why did you wanted to talk to me about this?"

"Well, as you know my function right now is up at the Pentagon. And when I got there I saw some things that I wasn't expecting. A lot of the officers with whom I'm working right now are turning more and more critical of the whole strategy designed to deal with the aliens, particularly when we seen all of the blaming on the television that the military isn't doing anything to help".

"We've seen that kind of criticism before, Mac. I'd be also complaining if I was forced to sit and watch and not being able to speak while others do our work".

"Terry, I know what you are saying but things are changing". He made a serious face and looked around. "Some time ago we were ordered to dust off and review the main operations plan that was conceived before X-Com's creating. Now this is something regularly done, in order to update it with the latest information gathered by the CIA and X-Com".

Williams scratched his chin. "So?"

"I can't tell you any details but it seems that there might be a major change of policy. And now with the confirmation that Vaughn will be the next boss to sit on the chair, the whole matter is being more discussed at our meetings. I wanted to know if you are aware of the situation. Things are going to change and I don't know of how to feel".

Looking at his friend's concern, Williams thought that he was making too much of a normal situation. "Relax will you? I haven't been notified yet but that's not something I wasn't expecting. This will be a new administration: they will want to do things differently. But just do your job as good as I know you are and don't get too involved into discussing the general policy. We are all working on the same team and as long as everyone is aware of it we will overcome this".

MacAllister seemed to be still uncomfortable with the situation but he dropped the subject. "Yeah. Well it must be me: I think I would have preferred to stay out of the Pentagon if not for the boost in my career". Williams laughed at the comment and both men stood there, taking the opportunity afterwards to discuss their personal plans for next year.

__

André Galvão, 2002


	22. Messengers from the Stars

X-Com – The Unknown Menace

Chapter Twenty-One – Messengers from the Stars

Millions of years before recorded human History

Zeta Two Reticuli star system, 37 light years from Earth

The alien species had fared well in their quest to prevent their extermination, already scheduled for when the astromechanics of the binary star system would cover their home planet to a mass of locked ice. 

Seeking to avoid their extinction, they had developed interplanetary travel in what would be called a blink of an eye in cosmic terms. It allowed them to set their foot upon the majority of the other planets and moons that composed their star system. Their technological skills had already advanced greatly: not content with the limitations of their fragile physical bodies and their weak genetic pool, they turned also their attention to the unlocking of the very own secret of life itself. 

In the middle of their planetary and scientific expansion, a discovery of great significante occurred: it seemed that the same physics behind their pendant doom had given them the key to their own survival. A rare mineral was found in the second planet and, upon examination of its characteristics the alien race discovered that it could be used to enable interstellar flight. That was a major boom to the Reticulans' hope of survival. They had already sent ships to colonize the most promising stars systems nearby, but the vessels would take millions of years to reach their destinations and most likely would never known if the effort was successful, since the distances involved meant that any message beamed back would only find their home planet long dead.

With this new discovery, the alien civilization bloomed, setting forth now in a cosmic journey of exploration, now that their concerns about survival had been lifted. Survey ships were immediately sent to the closest star systems and the aliens discovered that some of the planets were thriving with their own life. Generally they would be simple life forms, more concerned in reproducing themselves and surviving, sometimes even trying to eat or attack the Reticulans as they studied them. But in a few cases the aliens found out intelligent species, which were aware of the visitors' presence. Although their primitive cultures were not match for the aliens' technological and mental achievements, the Reticulans made no effort to conquer the, preferring to watch the newly found species with curiosity….and fear. 

The discovery of life outside their own solar system had been long mentioned in old prophecies that had been long considered useless. But as their ships moved from one star system to another and reports came of other intelligent beings, a long-forgotten fear begun to emerge again into their collective mind. No one clearly understood the reasons behind it and no one dared to assume it, but lurking into their conscience there was the feeling that the blessings the universe had given them could be a bane. The Reticulans started to avoid any contact with other intelligent species. They started to visit them only to check for their technological advances and to stop any potential threat from ever emerging.

However, their exploration vessels continued to expand their empire when a most disturbing discovery happened. As they moved along into exploring star systems and colonizing the most promising planets, one of their expeditions reported back intriguing discoveries in a binary star system. Nine planets circled around one of the stars, the majority of them gas giants or lifeless rock balls, but in one of them there seen to have been a major cataclysm. The planet had been inhabited once by intelligent life, but something terrible had happened to them. The exploration vessel report that was beamed back showed images of blasted cities and ruins of massive monuments, destroyed by some sort of radioactive weapons. There was also evidence that dead civilization had once also tried to reach the stars, since there were also artifacts on the planet's moon surface.

There were no records of what had happened to them and the planet's environmental conditions made it clear that while it once was able to support a variety of life forms, it now was only marginally inhabitable. The examination of the expedition's findings brought few answers about what had happened to the alien civilization or what was its culture. The only firm conclusions were that the species that lived there had once placed all of their effort upon reaching the stars: the constructions still more or less intact replicated on the ground the patterns of the stars above, in the form of massive drawings made of carved rock. Other than it, they had destroyed themselves in a war whose reasons behind were unclear.

The discovery sent a shiver through the Reticulans' society, bringing back the great debate about what danger might be lurking around. Reluctantly, for the first time in their history they started to prepare for organized warfare, equipping their spacefaring vessels with weapons and using their genetic skills to bring major modifications into their own race. 

Meanwhile the expedition had finished their sweep of the planets surrounding the main star of the twin system. The only unexplored feature left was its circling companion, a brown dwarf, a spatial object several hundred times the mass of the biggest gas giant planets. In comparison with the majority of stars in the galaxy, it had about one quarter of their size and less than half their temperature. It was a failed star, too small to develop the pressures that enabled hydrogen fusion to happen. But the brown dwarf wasn't completely dead: it was still emanating residual infrared light and heat, the energy that it still had left from its formation, when the initial pressures had enabled a different type of fusion. 

So far such astronomical objects had been looked over by the aliens. In some cases it had been found that they had possessed satellites and that the heat and radiation warmed them enough to permit the development of life. But the abundance of more life abiding planets around normal stars had kept the aliens wait from those brown dwarfs. That had been the norm, until now.

Without being ordered or giving any explanation, the expedition traveled to the brown dwarf. Upon their arrival they reported several moons circling the failed star, some of them possessing an atmosphere and life-bearing conditions. They also announced their decision of descending into the most promising satellite. The message didn't stir much attention back on their homeworlds until time passed and the only thing heard from them was silence, inspite of the frequent hails. 

In conjunction with other events, the Reticulans' leadership became deeply concerned. A strange presence was detected inside their collective mind at the same time that the expedition stopped reporting back. Another vessel was sent to the system to investigate, but contact was also lost with it. News of the occurrence soon spread to every colony and spaceship, resulting in social upheaval and soon outright rebellion, as their society became more and more divided about their course of action. Strife and civil war followed, the last concept until then unheard in their society, until finally the most powerful group emerged, the genetic pinnacle that had been specially developed for such a situation. Confident on their own mental powers and on their technology, they now assembled a large expedition was sent to destroy the unknown menace to their power that hid in the brown dwarf's moon.

January 24th, 2001

The White House, Washington D.C., US

On the way to brief the new sworn-in President on the alien situation, Williams still wondered what sort of man he would turn out to be like. The new president had been sworn into office four days ago, definitely ending the controversy over the vote count: the whole thing would now be something for historians to study, it seemed and that was also Williams' wish. The whole matter had brought concerns to him that the US didn't need to be involved in the middle of such a controversy while trying to fight the aliens.

For what he could see of the White House staff something was definitely different: new aides moving around the corridors, taking curious looks at him and even the Marine and Secret Service security guards seemed to be looked more alert. They had taken their time to check his ID, although after two years coming to see the President they already knew his face by now. It looked as if Vaughn's message upon being sworn in as President was true, that he wanted to quickly get on to business, after the political mess that the presidential election had turned out to be, with the recounts called by both candidates in several states. Which was fine with Williams, since New Year had only brought the defection of Indonesia to the aliens' camp. While the country didn't belong to the Council of Funding Nations, the effects of their turning into the aliens' side were causing a lot of instability in the area.. Indonesia was one of the most populous countries in the world and the defection had put Australia into a tight spot, since they had now an enemy sitting by their doorstep. X-Com was managing to keep the increasing alien incursions at bay but…barely and now it was extremely important to assure that the new Administration would be fully aware of the dramatic situation being fought on Earth's continents and atmosphere. But he was reassured because Vaughn had been briefed about the situation from the days of the presidential campaign and now it would be the time for him to act upon realities, not the needs to gain more votes.

When he finally entered the Situation Room and took a look at the people present, Williams realized in shock that the majority were strangers to him, although he recognized some of the faces from the congressional hearings that took place to appoint the new Cabinet. General Thompson and his new boss, Candace May, the new Director of Central Intelligence, were present, but everyone else who had been on the last meeting was gone, being replaced by new faces.

President Vaughn noticed his entry in the room and moved to greet him. As he approached Williams quickly recognized the look on his face that was the same stamped on all the banners, posters, television ads and so forth. Vaughn was on his mid fifties and his black hair was already starting to turn white at his sides. He also had a square chin and his eyebrows connected with one another over his small nose. "Mr. Williams, good morning and thank you for driving up here all the way from Langley on this terrible weather", he said smiling as both men shook hands. He then introduced him to the rest of his Cabinet and after proper greetings were exchanged, the meeting started. 

"Mr. Williams, upon reading the reports you have brought to our attention before, we have wondered of the former Administration was not very lax on giving away money. In more than two years close to twenty-five billion dollars were given to X-Com and with what results? Are American troops more prepared and equipped to deal with the aliens, using X-Com's research? And I wouldn't exactly consider our country safe, when their activity is increasing every month."

"Sir, access to research data gathered by X-Com's scientists is limited due to security measures. And X-Com is doing the best they can in fighting the aliens. Those same reports also point out how the force has been extremely successful in dealing with any new tactics or weaponry developed by the aliens".

"Yes, but would they fight China, if they decide to invade the whole of Asia with legions of soldiers armed with the alien's weapons?"

"That could easily backfire into the aliens, sir. They would have to deal with these same troops later when they decide to take over Earth".

Vaughn got back on his chair and smiled, as if waiting for that argument. "The so-called argument about how the aliens will come down from the skies, like one of those science fiction movies. Mr. Williams, two years have passed from the first contact with the extraterrestrials and so far their activities have been quite limited in scope, wouldn't you say?"

"It depends on the perspective sir. They haven't performed any mass landings, if we look at the Siberian attack as a mere operation to ensure that the Russians and their laser were being kept out of the fight. However the numbers show that their activities…."

"You say it right. It depends on the perspective and so far I believe we have been taking the wrong perspective into this whole matter".

Williams realized that something had dramatically changed and looked at May. She replied his gaze with a beginning of a smile in her lips but kept silent. Vaughn continued: "Can't it be that they simply don't have the resources to take us all by force and instead need the help of other nations more sympathetic to their cause?"

"Sir, our estimates for the alien's forces based on the Solar system…."

"Your estimates! Like you said, educated guesses with few information to actually support them and that make no military sense at all, if you listen to the experts on the matter". He looked at General Smith, who started to speak as if it had been rehearsed.

"Mr. Williams, the Pentagon has been reviewing its war plans towards the aliens, taking a more conservative matter. The alien threat more and more seems to be of a local, not global issue. As an example, we have looked into the fact of why don't they use more of their forces in the attacks or even strike back at our ability to wage war, which would be the more logical thing to ensure a victory". 

"General Smith, this discussion involves more than that. The aliens have their own political agenda and their military actions are dictated by it".

"Yes, their agenda" Vaughn continued. "One that has brought them many times in the past in contact with Earth, according to your own investigations. And yet, not a single time did they take over us in that period, when our weapons would be like children's toys, unable to hurt them. They have contacted other nations before in the past and they are doing it now. They are acting with the permission and help of countries like China and so on, nations with their own agendas. In fact, so similar that one might not think if those same countries haven't been talking to the aliens for a long time and setting up their plans since then. After all, historically speaking the Chinese and other 'social' societies have the form of government that most resembles the aliens: a multi-caste system, where the upper classes looked at the ruled as mere tools to be used, with no respect for human rights. This isn't an interplanetary war, Mr. Williams. No, this is a fight over different ways of life and some of our fellow humans are directly behind it. And to win it, we need first to isolate and contain these same nations before they destroy us".

Williams was aghast, seeing how the whole strategy that he had helped to define was being thrown out into the trash. "Mr. President, I see the logic behind your thinking but I can't possibly agree with it. The aliens want to dominate us. It hasn't happened yet and I cannot bring forward any proof. 

But after dealing with them for such a long time, I'll bet all my money that will be a matter of time before they completely dominate us, either by a massive offensive or by turning us all into puppet states".

"Your thoughts have been deeply discussed and will be recorded, Mr. Williams. I thank you for your personal effort on this matter but this Administration doesn't think it will be necessary anymore".

Williams looked around in the room. All the faces seemed unsympathetic with his position, looking as if the yet unspoken decision had already been taken previous to the meeting. "Sir, does this means I'm being fired?"

Candace May replied for the President. "Mr. Williams, like the President said we appreciate your devotion to duty but right now it has been considered as misguided". She stopped, looking sympathetic at him. "I'm afraid your position at the National Intelligence Council is going through a review at the moment. However you will retain your former position at the CIA, in a matter deemed appropriate for your unique skills".

The whole world felt like it has turning into Williams and he looked upwards towards the sky, starting to feel scared about what might be coming. Vaughn simply looked at him, rubbing his hands. He was about to get up and leave when a final question came to his head.

"Sir, if I may ask, what will be the status of X-Com?" Vaughn shifted uncomfortably on his chair but the answer came from Smith. "The Joint Chiefs of Staff are still reviewing our position on that force and if the resources allocated wouldn't be better used on regular US forces".

Vaughn nodded to Smith. "Thank you General. To tell you the truth, I haven't really decided, Mr. Williams. I can't say I was pleased to hear two days ago that X-Com took down one of their large UFOs and that they hoarded its contents without waiting for the arrival of US forces. I was equally distressed when Mrs. May told me about X-Com's policy of restricting the information given to us. You don't treat your allies that way".

Williams shook his head. "That same policy prevented that the Chinese had access to any sensitive data before they decided to join the aliens' side, sir. It works either way".

"Maybe, but the Chinese now have direct access to that data through the aliens, while we are still being left in the dark. Don't think I don' appreciate the effort they are putting against defending our cities, but in the end line it's our civilians that are being targeted by the aliens. However, American forces should be defending them, not some multinational force that is outside our command and that might decide against our own interests".

"The leaders of North American Command, Colonels Johnson and Jackson are more than loyal to the US, sir".

"I'm not questioning their loyalty. What I'm questioning is our participation on a force where some of the participating nations have turned into the enemy's side. One might think of when that collaboration started and if the creation of this force wasn't a part of their plans. Furthermore, if that proves to be right we might be housing into our own soil a fifth column, even if their military leaders aren't aware of it. A fifth column to which we are giving money and our best minds and bases". 

"X-Com is fully devoted into stopping the aliens sir!" The remark brought a frown into Vaughn's face and Williams knew that the discussion was over. "That might be. However, we are not in command and right now we need to focus our efforts. By spreading them through the use of this force we might as well be surrendering to the enemy's tactics. But that will be for this administration to decide, not you. Good day Mr. Williams and thank you for your presence here".

January 28th, 2001

CIA Headquarters, Langley, Virginia, US

Williams just had lunch at the cafeteria after a long prolonged meeting going over the projections regarding the estimates of current Chinese forces, something that was boring him to dead. But before heading back to his office, he made a stop to the restroom to take a leak. Like the rest of the building there wasn't anyone around, with the majority of the workers having already left to go to their homes. He made a mental note to remind his wife that he would be late today as the other occupant of the restroom left.

Ten seconds afterwards he heard the door swivel open again but he didn't bother to look. He only heard the sound of decisive steps on the floor and the door of one of the toilet cabinets behind him being opened. Then the noise repeated itself, as another door was slammed opened and another. He turned his head and saw Davis, wearing a civilian suit and opening all of the cabinets in a quick motion. "Davis! What are you doing? What are you doing here?"

The X-Com operative simply raised his finger to his lips and finished his sweep, after which he went to stand by the door. Meanwhile Williams had to stay right where he was since he wasn't done urinating yet. "Managed to come up with an excuse to fly over here and discuss the latest information on the aliens retrieved by X-Com. A bunch of non-sense and useless information, if you ask, but I need to talk to you about the UFO we shot down and recovered last week".

"You mean the intruder who got squashed by the new Firestorm? What's so special about it? You got it shot down and defeated the crew afterwards, didn't we?" The other man looked back at him, slightly turning his attention away from the entrance. "That's what the report we gave to CIA spooks say. However, there are some things that I've manage to convince X-Com to hold back for now until we have confirmation of them, due to their implications". He moved his index finger in a circle, meaning that he was talking about their 'special issue'".

By now Williams had lost all will to urinate and he zipped his fly back up. "What have you found inside it?" He moved to the sink to wash his hands. 

"You don't want to know half about what we found inside that flying can. Besides a lot of supplies it carried a lot of equipment meant to process food onroute. And the aliens made sure that the fridge was full: for the human remains we recovered they must have stopped over somewhere in Asia to go shopping for groceries, if you get what I mean".

Williams felt lucky that he was right in front of the sink, in case his stomach would fail him. "Is that what it was? A Harvester? The radar tracks made available to us by NORAD picked up showed it to be a larger craft though".

Davis looked through the door to make sure no one eavesdropped into their conversation. "Doubtful. This thing was big and, besides food, it carried over twenty aliens, most of them combat troops and enough weapons and ammunition to equip a full company. And not to mention that it was also carrying a several assortment of other equipment, including several alien reproduction chambers. However, it was only lightly armored and it didn't carry that much weapons for its size. From what the intelligence exports back at the base say, it seems more of a transporter than an assault ship. Doesn't that make you think? ".

"A transport ship? But for what? When they perform attacks they use their Terror Ships and if this was an invasion there would be hundreds of landing craft, not just one". Davis nodded. "Remember our late Mr. Owens? Most of the government personnel files regarding him have been mysteriously deleted or lost in a number of computer malfunctions. However, I've called American Express and using a number of excuses managed to have a copy of the expenses he placed upon his credit card for the year before he died. He was several times close to the area where the UFO was shot down, namely in northern New Mexico. And the craft was flying a straight course as if it had a destiny. Now what can it be so important over there that the aliens are shipping stuff to there with Mr. Owens also stopping by to say hello?"

The realization nearly made Williams drop the paper he was using to rinse his hands. He looked at Davis: "We have to get to New Mexico at once. There must be some sort of alien operation going over there".

"Get ready to travel at my notice during the next week. I'll let you know later to where and when". Before Davis could say anything else, the former FBI agent simply left the restroom, leaving him alone. He threw the paper into the waste bin, realigned his tie knot and went back to his office.

February 6th, 2001

Albuquerque, New Mexico, US

The small diner where Davis and Williams where having breakfast was close to the motel where they had checked in the night before, both men using fake identifications and paying in cash. The retrieval of the large UFO had been completed by X-Com personnel a week ago and the direction of its intention flight path and the other information available pointed that the presumable alien base would be located more to the north. Before heading there, however, both men wanted to check the lead of Mr. Sam Owens and his whereabouts in New Mexico before his death. The trouble had been that, so far, they had scarce information.

Finishing his eggs with pancakes, Williams took a sip of his coffee and asked Davis. "So, where do we start now that we are here?" The X-Com operative took out a manila file from a briefcase he was carrying and handed it to Williams. He opened and saw a map of New Mexico, divided by counties and with each one having a number on them. "What is this?"

Davis went back to finishing his breakfast but talked in the middle of the bites into his French toast. "I did some queries into local law enforcement agencies regarding if they had reported any strange lights in the sky in the past six months, from ever since the government recognized the existence of UFOs. These are the results". 

"You have to be kidding me. Nearly each one shows dozens of reports, which isn't surprising if you consider that everyone in the whole country is now discussing about the flying saucers. I wouldn't consider the majority of this reports reliable and we don't have time to go through all of them".

"Dead right on that one. But have you mentioned that some places don't report any UFOs at all? Don't you think it's strange, considering all the fuss the ET Papers made?" That sounded to Williams as bizarre, but it was better than visiting all of the local police forces. "So you are suggesting that we go to these other places, where no UFO incidents have been reported?"

"Or probably that the folks around there are so used to them that they have never bothered to mention them". The logic still didn't appeal too much for Williams, but he decided that it was better than nothing. He put the paper back to the others on the manila folder and handed it back to him.

But as he moved his arm, the folder hit Davis' coffee cup, with the whole hot content spilling over the table and making the other man jump back on his chair and drop his silverware on the plate. "Careful!" Williams put the folder on the side of the table and immediately picked up a napkin and started to clean the mess. A waitress came by two minutes later and helped him out, afterwards asking if Davis would like another cup of coffee. He politely refused and excused himself to the restroom to clean the coffee stains on his pants. 

Finally, when they arrive they asked for the check and left some dollar bills to pay for it. But as Williams was getting up his hip hit one corner of the folder and it dropped noisily, spreading its contents all over the floor. "Seemed to have awaken with the wrong foot today" He mumbled towards Davis as he crouched to pick up all the papers and afterwards follow the other man on their way out.

On the table next to Williams and Davis, Evan Blake was still wondering about what he had just seen. Vaughn had been sworn in already, but it would take some time before any announcement to be made by the government about the UFO situation, if ever. Blake knew that the Federal Government was suspicious enough to try to keep a lid on every secret. He had flown to Indian Springs to do research into the Roswell incident and about a supposed UFO that had been tracked by NORAD over the area, according to one of his sources. He was considering on how to make a boring story interesting, especially when he hadn't been too enthusiastical about a wild goose chase ordered by his editor just because the matter was hot right now, when all of the action now was at Washington.

But that had all changed the minute he took notice of the commotion regarding both men in front of him. And of the symbol he had seen on one of the documents when one had dropped a folder on the ground by accident. He had only cached a glimpse of it, but the white circle with a red X he had seen on the header of it made him remind of a something he had seen more than a year ago. The same symbol of the strange aircraft spotted on the terrorist attack on LA, which remained as elusive as the whereabouts of Colonel Johnson. It was obvious to him by now that the force must be responsible for investigating the ET incidents. And if he got to them, who knows what information about the aliens he could get? He tried to see how both men were but during the time it took him to remind of where he had seen the symbol they were already on their way to the exit. 

Leaving a twenty-dollar bill over his table, he grabbed his notes and quickly stuffed them inside his bag. Heading the door, he searched for the two men that had just left, hoping to follow them. He nearly bumped on the way out into one of the locals, sporting a Texas Cowboys cap and some really worn out jeans and shirt. He failed to notice that the man also mimicked his actions, getting into a pick-up where another individual had already the engine running and taking down the same route that Blake had just taken on his pursuit. 

February 7th, 2001

Nearby Dulce, Jicarilla Apache Reservation, New Mexico, US

The last town they had passed on their way to here could be already considered the end of the world but the city after looked even worse. There the local police chief had dismissed the claims of alien craft, telling that if there really were aliens they would be more interested into other places than his town. 

As they were leaving the city a most disturbing occurrence happened: Davis kept checking is rear-view mirror for a long time and, after a while took a turn into the wrong direction. Feeling puzzled, Williams picked up the map to check and said to Davis: "You just took the wrong turn. You're supposed to have gone straight on the highway we were going".

The other man still kept his eyes on the mirror. "We are being followed". The first reaction of Williams was to turn around and look to the back, thinking that he would see a car on their tail, but nothing was on sight on the road. "How can you tell? I see nothing out there".

"I've spotted it only this morning when we left the motel. It's a simple passenger car with one man inside, but he was on our tail when we go out of the last city and it turned the same way as we did. There!"

Looking at the distance, Williams only saw a silhouette of a vehicle. He couldn't even say what type of car it was. "Aren't you just getting a little paranoid?"

Davis looked at him. "I've done this for years chasing KGB agents. I should know something about this otherwise they wouldn't have made me subdirector on the FBI". 

Giving up to press the argument, Williams said. "OK, it's your call. What should we do about it?"

"We head out for our next destination, pretending that we just took a wrong turn and go our own business. Let's wait and see what he and his friends are up to". That worried Williams. "You think there's more?" 

Keeping his eyes forward, he replied. "Unless he's a complete amateur, there has to be more people assigned to following us. One man simply cannot keep surveillance for hours without loosing his target. Whatever you do, don't ever show that you are aware of him. He might react to that".

"React?" Williams started to have a bad feeling. "Yeah. Open the glove compartment and take out the gun that's there". He did and found a Beretta 9mm pistol inside, underneath the driving manual of the car. As Williams took it out by its barrel Davis asked. "Have you ever used one?"

"No. I'm just a CIA analyst, not an operative".

"Well, Mr. Analyst, on the right there's the safety. To fire it, just take the safety off, pull back the top into you to load a round, point it and press the trigger. The clip contains fifteen bullets". Williams grabbed it by the holster. "I supposed you have one already". 

His shoulders shrugged. "One never knows what might show up. Better to be prepared for all circumstances". 

"Who do you think it might be back there?"

"Who knows? Maybe someone back at the Agency decided that you are a security risk, now that you have been put off the alien situation. Probably they asked the Bureau to keep an eye to see what you are doing taking off from Washington in such a rush. Or maybe it's the other thing that we have discussed before…"

Williams' voice was scared. "How will we know?"

"Depends on what they might try. But try to look relaxed when we get to our next destination". He went back to driving and Williams tried to put away the thought as they made a turn back into the main road. After a while they reached a sign that marked the beginning of a Native American reservation. 

When they reached the town in the middle of the reservation, it looked nothing more than a agglomeration of houses and trailers all cluttered up on the sides of the highway, with children playing on the side of the street. As Davis drove towards the reservation police office Williams looked at the local folks and wondered why would anyone live in such an inhospid location. 

The ex-FBI operative parked the car on front of a white prefabricated building in the parking lot, which was nothing more than a section of dry flat earth with sparse vegetation. They both got out of the rented Chevrolet at the same time as the reservation police chief had gotten out of the small building and moved in their direction. He wore blue denim jeans tucked inside black cowboy boot, together with a dark gray shirt and a black tie. Only the cowboy hat and the insignia pinned to his chest pointed his position as a policeman. "Can I help you gentlemen?"

Davis produced his wallet from his pocket while answering, "Sheriff Lonewolf? I'm Michael Kaminsky of the FBI. I tried to contact you before but you didn't respond…" The Apache looked carefully at the fake id that Davis was showing him, before answering the unspoken question. "You want to know about the flying craft, the UFOs as you call them. Who is this other man?"

Davis seemed to be lost for a minute with the man's bluntness. "This is Mr. Franks, he is here on an advisory position to the Bureau. Sheriff, why do you think we are here to investigate such a matter?"

"Mr. Kaminsky, just because we live in a reservation that doesn't mean that I don't pay attention to the news outside. The work I have around here is either petty crime or minor offenses. And occasionally someone might got injured or killed in a brawl, but even that wouldn't be enough to bring the attention of the FBI".

"Excuse me sheriff, but why would we came here then? You have been one of the few counties in the state that hasn't made any reports about them". The Apache took his eyes off both men to look at the distant mountain shapes on the horizon. "No one here has bothered to make such report, because some between us have kept the knowledge about know what they are and are used to seeing them. Those are not police matters but of the spiritual world".

The explanations of the man defied any logic to Williams. "Spiritual matters? Chief Lonewolf, it's essential to every human being on this planet that we learn more about them. What information can you give us regarding the UFOs?" The Native American looked back at him, giving him a twisting sensation on his stomach. "You ask for more of what I can tell you". He headed back towards the office. "You can leave now. There's nothing here for you".

"Sheriff, hold on a minute! We are here on official business and we are requiring your collaboration. We need to know if any UFOs have been seen or reported in the area". The Apache stopped by the door. "I am telling you that here you won't find what you seek".

As he went back into the building, Williams turned to Davis. "Great. Now what we do?" The X-Com official stood there, thinking for a minute before replying to Williams. "We look for what we want without his help. We can't force him to be cooperative". Williams looked up and down the street. "Yeah, any ideas on how to start?"

Davis was about to respond as a figure came around the pre-fabricated building and approached them both. It was a woman well into his forties, with a skin tone that identified her also as an Apache. She had an aquiline nose that looked familiar to Williams, although he had no idea why. "You are from Washington aren't you?" She asked both.

"Why, yes, madam. We are here on official mission to the FBI". Davis presented his credential looked at her in attention. "We have been sent here to investigate a strange phenomenon and we could use any…"

"I know why you are here. My name is Gloria and I help out my brother with the paperwork and the calls sometimes. I saw when your request for information came and my brother told me not to answer back". Davis raised an eyebrow. "Sheriff Lonewolf is your brother? Madam, if you don't mind me telling you this he could be a little more helpful".

"He has always looked at the UFOs with fear and awe. We lived all our childhood hearing stories about the beings from the sky and seeing the lights. He and most of the folks prefer not to think about the subject, specially since we started to see them almost every week".

"Every week? For how long?" Williams started to wonder for how long the possible base had been operating. 

"I don't know, months, could be years. We hardly pay attention to them anymore. Sometimes they fly over the camp, others we just see them at a distance. I always thought that you had something to do with them and seeing you here asking for them struck me as strange".

"And you never thought of telling this to anyone?"

"Why should we? Anyone would just think it to be a story made-up by some drunken Indian who had mistaken a street light for a UFO. And this has been going on for many generations. They came, do their business and they go, leaving us alone".

"Just how do you know that madam?" Williams was dumbstruck.

"The tales told by our elders. And the paintings on the caves close to the mesa".

"Can you take us there? It's important that we see them". She looked at the sedan they were driving with reprovation. "Yes, but we need to get authorization from the tribal council and we can't drive there on your car. There's a dirt road that will get us close but we will have to make some miles through hard terrain. We will have to take my jeep". She pointed at a red jeep parked a little away from them and Davis nodded. "Then if you won't mind, please let's get the authorization necessary to see the caves".

Some time later they were riding on the Sheriff's sister Grand Cherokee jeep on their way to the natural caverns that she had mentioned. Before they had been introduced to the shaman of the tribe as she had introduced him, who simply looked at them as they approached the porch where he was seated on and nodded. Williams and Davis looked as she talked to him but they couldn't hear her words. When she came back she told him that they had permission since she was already expecting them. That brought looks of suspicion from them to her, but she dismissed them, saying. "He says that to most of the people who came here and ask the same thing, to visit some part of the reservation. My brother is also into that same mystical thing. I prefer to keep myself in both worlds at the same time".

The dirt track ended on the top of a small elevation that was standing in the middle of all the gullies that made the terrain of most of the reservation. The whole time Davis had kept an eye on the road behind them, trying to look for the presence of their tail but finding nothing. "Now we walk from here", she said before taking a backpack and looking at their shoes. "I hope these are good for walking. We still have to hike for almost mile before we get there".

Both men followed her, with Williams in the middle and Davis closing the rear. After looking at the brown and red landscape over them started to bother the CIA analyst, he started to ask questions at the woman. "Miss Lonewolf, how do you know about this place?"

She didn't even bother to look back while picking the trail and answering them. "Me and my brother used to come here a lot when we were kids. My grandfather told us about the paintings, telling that our ancestors made them to represent the messengers from the stars". 

Williams almost slipped as he stepped upon a rock that was loose. "What else did he say about them?"

"I can't remember: I was a while and he died soon afterwards. And until I started seeing the lights in the sky hovering around the mesa I didn't believe him much on that story". 

They had now entered a deeper gully, with its sides towering the trio. As they walked inside it, Williams felt entrapped as if the earth walls would engulf them. "What mesa are you talking about?"

"The Archuletta Mesa. It's over that hill". She pointed into her right indicating an elevation that Williams was only able to barely see the top. "The lights go there?"

They had now entered a large area on the small canyon where they were walking. "Yes. I only saw them there once many years ago. I thought it was the military since there was a time that their helicopters were all around the sky. But they have gone there a number of times". She stopped in the middle of the area.

Davis had finally reached their position and Williams was breathing while Gloria didn't seem troubled by the hike at all. "It's there". She pointed to a darker area of the small enclosured space where they were standing. 

Following her, Williams and Davis soon found out that it led into a natural cave, dug by an ancient underground river. She took out two flashlights out of her backpack, gave one to Davis and entered. As she started to lighten the way ahead she warned them. "Watch your feet! The whole ground is littered with stones".

Williams tried to take care on his step by he bumped into a couple of heavy rocks that hurt his toes. Finally the movement of the light indicated that she had stopped. Both men moved to join her, in the middle of an underground cave, pointing her flashlight to a portion of the wall above.

In the orange almost flat wall Williams started to notice figures painted into a variety of colors. Some were animals like snakes and foxes, while others consisted of birds, all having some sort of a symmetrical configuration. The other drawings were geometrical shapes, but finally he saw what he was looking for.

The figure was of a large head, its external contours in black while the face itself was in white, with two dark slanted eyes with the shape of teardrops. As the CIA analyst recognized one and his brain took notice of what he should be looking for, he quickly spotted others drawn in the walls. Pointing them to Davis he asked him: "Recognize something?"

"Yeah, I guess we found the people from the stars. But we still need…". A gunshot noise followed by a human scream made him quickly turn into the direction of the entrance. Two human figures could be seen standing against the faint light coming out from it.

Without thinking, Davis threw his flashlight at the direction of both men while reaching for his belt. The lamp spun on the air still on, illuminating portions of the wall for a second until another gunshot was heard. Sparks suddenly came out of it and the light died, followed by the sound of it crashing on the ground.

Williams's vision was then filled by the bright light of a laser being fired in the dark confines of the cave. Finding himself blind he moved towards one of the walls, hitting his head against it on the process. "Kill the light! Don't move!" He heard Davis say a moment later. Gloria shut down the remaining flashlight, leaving them all into a sea of pitch black.

Only then did he remind himself of the pistol that he had left back at their car. He wished that he had remembered to bring it along. Moments passed and nothing could be seen from the entrance and he could only hear the sound of the humans breathing inside. There was no indication of where Davis or Gloria might be, although he had an idea of their positions.

Deciding to shift his position he started to come out from the recess on the wall where he was hiding. But as soon as his arm started to move, a gunshot was again heard, followed by extreme pain above his left elbow that made him scream and close his eyes.

He didn't saw what happened afterwards and only the glow of the laser going through his closed eyelids told him that Davis had fired his laser pistol again. Some time later, which to him seemed to be countless minutes, he heard the X-Com agent shout: "All clear".

The light went back on again and looking at his arm Williams saw that a bullet had hit it over the elbow. Gloria came by and taking a look said: "It's bleeding but you're lucky. It didn't hit any major artery or bone, just went through the flesh and got out by the other side". Going back to her backpack, she took out a first aid kit from her back and started to help him. 

When she was done, both of them moved outside. Two figures were standing by the entrance, apparently dead, with their guns pushed away from them. To Williams they seemed more like locals but he couldn't be sure. As they both reached the clear area outside he saw Davis still holding his pistol and pointing it at another figure who was moving towards him slowly.

"For Christ's sake! I've just been shot! What do you think you are doin'?" The voice was familiar to Williams. Evan Blake had his hands both up and had now stopped upon Davis' indication. The X-Com agent then dropped him with a kick to the back of his knees that made him hit the ground heavily. "What the hell is going on here?" Blake demanded as Davis made a quick search on him, looking for any concealed weapons. 

Satisfied with his search, Davis then backed away and motioned him to get up, still keeping his laser pistol trailed on the figure. When Blake got up he started dusting off his clothes before he noticed Williams and Gloria standing at the entrance of the cave. "You!" He pointed angrily at him. "You are into some serious trouble mister! You're a liar who just tried to kill me. I will have your head over this! Neonazi groups my ass! You are going to tell me what is really going on concerning the aliens!"

Ignoring him, Williams looked at Davis who spoke: "I don't think he's with them. My bet is that they were about to jump on us when he appeared and ruined their plans". Taking his aim slightly off Blake, he added: "The question remains though: what are you doing here and why were you following us?"

"Why should I answer that?" Davis pointed back the pistol at him. "Why should you not? I've just been shot twice by these dead fellows back there and I had to kill them". The next lines make Williams nearly jump before he reasoned that it might be a bluff. "Makes me no difference if you join them".

Blake seemed as if he was still extremely angry. "I saw you yesterday on Albuquerque. I was about to head out for Roswell to make a story about the supposed crash there but I decided that you should be here for some reason regarding the aliens".

Davis still wasn't satisfied. "Go on" 

"When you left the reservation on the jeep my car had some problems with the terrain and I was delayed. I eventually came to the place where you parked, only to find a pick-up truck next to yours. I took me some guessing but I finally discovered where you headed out. But when I arrived here someone took a shot at me and I hid until you forced me out. Satisfied now?"

Davis looked back at him but was interrupted by Gloria, who had stood silent until now but had finally decided to make some questions of her own. "Mr. Franks, who were those people back there? What is happening?"

"Mr. Franks?!" Blake's tone of voice showed his disbelief. "Is that how you go now, Mr. Williams?" Seeing his astonished face, the journalism continued. "Yeah, I know your real name alright. I'd only wish that I could have a recording of what you told me. My readers and Congress would just love to know that a member of the CIA is performing some sort of illegal operation in the US".

She moved away from Williams. "CIA? I thought you told my brother that you were working for the FBI!"

As Williams started to think of a plausible explanation, Davis moved closer to him, now with his pistol pointed downwards and started scanning the area. "We need to get to safer location. They might have back-up". Looking back at the entrance of the cave, he lowered his voice and concluded: "And they are _not_ humans. I guess we can say that we found what we were looking for".

The CIA analyst nodded and carefully moving his uninjured arm reached for one pocket and took out his identification. Opening the wallet he presented his identification for both Gloria and Blake to see. "He's right. I do belong to the CIA and my name is Williams. And this gentlemen here is Mr. Davis, a Subdirector of the FBI".

The journalist took great care to examine the card. "OK, now that we know who you are, why don't you mind telling us what is happening here and who were those men? I still don't trust someone who has lied to me before". 

A million explanations rushed through Williams' mind. He wanted to simply tell them the whole story since he was getting tired of the lies. He decided to tell only part of it. "We are a part of a secret investigation regarding the presence of an unknown force on the US. My reasons for lying to you before are quite simple: we are trying to find out what their intentions are and we don't want to alarm the public. Furthermore, we have found that they can be aggressive when we interfere in their activities. I decided it would be best for your own health if you didn't pursue the matter too much". 

Blake's face turned into a scowl of suspicion while Gloria simply looked at the sky and seemed distant. The journalist wasn't satisfied and kept pursuing the subject. "Why should I believe you? You have lied to me before".

His arm hurting, Williams decided that they should follow Davis' advice. He pointed to the entrance of the cave. "Go back there and check the bodies: they are not human. Look at their eyes and tell me afterwards what's the feeling of knowing that they walk among us undetected". 

As soon as they had hit the dirt road again, Davis put down his sidearm and took out a cellular phone from one of his coat's jackets. Williams took his eyes off the road for an instant to look through the rear mirror at Davis "Is that thing secure?" He also looked at Gloria, as asking if Davis should say anything in front of her. 

"Yes. The antenna can actually tap into one of our satellites. And the encryption codes it uses were developed using alien algoritms, from what they told me. Even the NSA can't break into this stuff". He dialed a number and waiting for the phone to be picked up on the other side. "This is Davis, clearance Iota-Red-Seven, password Seven-Six-Delta-Zero-Beta-Eleven. I want you to secure this line and connect me to the Colonel". A female computer generated voice replied to him. "Verifing voice print of clearance and password… accepted….transferring call to Colonel Robinson's desk….please stand by".

After a couple of minutes waiting and afterwards dealing with the Colonel's personal secretary, Robinson's voice finally came, slightly troubled. "Major Davis, first where are you and second what are you doing? You have failed to report for two days. I was not sure what motive I would give the FBI to start searching for you: treason or a pure case of a missing person and I'm hoping you could enlighten me Major".

"Colonel, I can explain all later but for now there are more pressing matters. We…" He looked at Blake and Williams, who seemed to have the bleeding from his arm contained for now. Gloria had removed a revolver from the front glove compartment and was constantly checking the mirror. They had decided to leave Blake's car behind so that they could move fast. The journalism had gone inside the cave to check the hybrid's bodies and had come out speechless but more willing to cooperate. 

Looking through his rearview mirror Davis saw nothing behind them. Keeping his voice low and wishing that Robinson would be able to make out his words, he continued: "We have managed to locate the place to where the alien transport was heading. They have a base here sir! Right on the middle of the US! And we need to act right now before they can prepare their defenses for an attack".

Silence only greeted him for some seconds, before the Colonel replied. "Major, where and with whom are you?"

"Sir, the base is located in New Mexico, close to the town of Dulce. There's a mesa there and the aliens have built it on a natural cave system. It's well-concealed but it show appear on a detailed scan of the area". Noticing that Williams had moved forwards to eavesdrop on the conversation he looked at the rearview mirror and saw him looking in apprehension and he remembered the bodies they had left there, besides the fact that they were carrying two other unauthorized persons. He dismissed it for now, considering that would be time to deal with both later and locked his gaze into Williams, telling him to trust him and keep his mouth quiet for now. 

"Major, I hope that you are right. I will put every asset we have looking into it and you call you back as soon as we have some results. Meanwhile stay clear of the area and ready to hear from us. Robinson out". Davis hung up the phone and Williams asked. "What did they say?"

"They are going to make some scans and have told us to stay put. I'm going to drive us back to the camp so that we can retrieve our cars and then we will all head for some motel a little away from here. We can check your arm there. Just try not to move it for now".

The analyst, still holding his arm, wasn't completely successful in trying to ignore the pain as he answered. "Gloria thinks that the bullet came through it. I think for now it's fine". 

Blake had listened to the exchange of words silent. He then casually asked: "Now tell me, is the nowhere to be found Colonel Johnson coming at the scene? I heard one mention a Colonel and I presume that you just talked to him and I'd sure like to ask him some questions about what has been going on since he disappeared from the regular US military".

Both Davis and Williams avoided responding to Blake's question, preferring to keep their faces straightforward. Gloria sensed something peculiar at the whole question, but wisely decided to keep herself out of the whole business.

"Mr. Blake, we can discuss all that happened later, when we reach a safe position. I must also contact my…." Williams looked at the other occupants and corrected himself, "the office at Washington". Davis shook his head and looked also at them, the meaning of his gesture saying to Williams:_ they have seen and heard too much already_ _and we can't risk any leaks on this type of information_. Williams thought for it a second and kept his eyes on the road afterwards. _This people can't be more involved into this. And they cannot find out anything about X-Com, no matter what it costs. _

"We will Mr. Williams. We will. And I'm most anxious to hear some of your explanations to this whole matter". 

Santa Fe, New Mexico, US

"Why is it taking so long?" Williams kept pacing around the motel room that they had just rented with his arm restrained by a piece of white gauze that hung from his neck. Seated on a chair close to the window, Davis thought for a moment. "I dunno. Maybe they are trying to check the information first". Using his hand he moved aside the curtain and looked outside. The Sun was already setting on the horizon.

"Who is they?" The other voice made both men look at Blake who was still with them, seated on one of the beds. "The military organization to whom you work?"

They refrained to any reply, which made Blake only to continue. "Deny it if you prefer. I know about how Williams and a number of other military key personnel all of the sudden disappeared from sight a couple of years ago. I also have indications that something strange is going around Area 51 in Nevada. Isn't that enough to prove that the government is doing something secret for a while on the subject".

He had pressed the subject all the way on the trip from the caves. Unable to take the verbal barbs of the man anymore Williams exploded. "Mr. Blake, what do you wish?!"

Evan faced him square on. "I know that the government knows much more than it has admitted into public. Supposedly you should be investigating their intentions. Well after what I've seen today you already knew about that. What else are you hiding and why?"

"This whole matter will come out one day Mr. Blake. Believe me it will". 

"Sir, I'm not your enemy damn it! Don't you think I can't keep a secret?" Looking straight at him Williams replied: "Some secrets might come back and kill you".

"You mean him?" Blake pointed at Davis. "No. You are free to go if you so desire. But trust me on this: there are hidden forces of which you have no idea of their power and reach. If you want an advice, keep yourself away from them or next time the aliens might fire at you with the specific propose of removing you out of the scene".

__

André Galvão, 2002


	23. Ghosts of the Past

X-Com – The Unknown Menace

Chapter Twenty-Two – Ghosts of the Past

February 8th, 2001

UN Building, New York City, US

"X-COM AGENTS HAVE DETECTED AN ALIEN BASE IN NORTH AMERICA". The message had arrived to Bomaka's special coded pager that put him in direct contact with Commander Illyuschenko. As he finish reading it, he immediately dismissed his aides and secretary who where present at his office without an excuse and made sure that the door was locked after they left.

Proceeding to his desk, he unlocked a drawer and took out a small rectangular object from it. Clearing his desk, he turned to a wall covered by an Earth map that showed all of the political boundaries and pressed a large red button on the remote control he was holding. The large map opened on its middle to reveal a blank display screen and he punched his own personal authorization code in the numeric keypad. The image first resolved itself into the twin symbols of the UN and X-Com, before they disappeared into a view of Illyuschenko's own private office at Mother One in Germany.

"Good afternoon, Mr. Secretary. We have a problem: Colonel Robinson just informed me that one of his staff and a CIA operative have discovered strong evidence leading to a presence of an alien base on the United States. This was nothing new for the intelligence Bureau, who already had indications of such a possibility, but now they seem confirmed".

"What are you planning to do about it General?"

"Colonel Johnson is already working on a base assault. However, we need your assistance sir. The US leadership hasn't been informed about it yet".

"I see. But didn't you tell me that a CIA operative was involved? Hasn't he reported yet?" From the look on Illyuschenko's face Bomaka knew that the reason that made the general call him had to do with that matter.

"No. Until recently he was one of their top analysts on the alien situation but Vaughn removed him from his position immediately after taking power. He got involved into this whole matter because one of Robinson's people had already worked with him before and decided to request for his assistance in tracking down the alien base".

"I don't like this Commander. We can't risk alienating one of X-Com's top contributors but sponsoring the actions of someone who has been considered as incapable by Vaughn do deal with the alien situation".

"Sir, I know I think about the whole matter in general. However the operative has worked with us before: a lot of people at Area 51 have attested to his integrity, including Robinson himself. Moreover, what he told us is that Vaughn is already considering a chance of policy concerning the aliens and X-Com. Seems that the American president is about to go the same way that the fool Larianov and trying to act independently of X-Com".

A feeling of dread went through Bomaka's stomach. "Is that bad? I heard the campaign speeches but I never took them much attention". 

"Johnson can't confirm it, but he says that in some of the latest UFO recoveries a number of interference from federal agents have been reported. He wants to act fast but he felt it better to leave the decision about how and when to inform Vaughn to us".

"Does you think that Vaughn will try to interfere?"

"Most likely he could demand that the whole operation is placed under US control, since it's in their soil like Larianov tried to do in Siberia. Johnson concurs with this opinion".

"So what do you require from me Commander?"

"According to the plan, the operation should start as soon as before the aliens can be fully ready to deal with the strike team. But we would like that you bring the news directly to Vaughn as soon as the team is about to hit them. That way if he decides to intervene, the US forces will arrive too late for any thing than help our own soldiers, in case they run into trouble. In any case, there's a strong need to maintain secrecy about this whole matter". 

"From what you told me, he won't be pleased".

"Mr. Secretary, I don't care about what Vaughn thinks about it and I would be more than happy to scrub it on his face. The US signed the X-COM Charter and is obliged to its dispositions. Even if his attitude turns out to be different, we probably would have to do the same to catch the aliens as fast as possible to guarantee tactical surprise. Or at least to avoid then knowing when we would attack since there is already evidence enough that points to alien infiltrators on Earth". 

Bomaka scratched his mustache in thought and stood there facing the screen, with Illyuschenko waiting for an answer. "Inform me when we are about to hit the base and the coordinates of its location. And wish Colonel Johnson good luck".

The military commander of X-Com nodded in appreciation. "He will sure need it. Mother One out".

Area 51, Nevada, US

When Markovitch entered the officer's briefing room she wondered what the troops might be thinking of all the agitation that was going around the base in the past hours. All of the senior officers had simply disappeared from plain sight and all leaves and exercises had been cancelled or either postponed. Something big was on the air, they all knew it from the morning when a Skyranger had brought back Davis and a civilian from an unknown location and the base had been placed into full alert. Base gossip seemed to be at his best since she had noticed that on her way to the briefing room all of the troopers she had passed had carefully watched her to try to understand what was going on.

She immediately noticed that Williams was already standing in front of the group of assembled soldiers, together with Robinson and Johnson. The intelligence officer had his injured arm locked tight against his chest. There wasn't much space in the room left: all of the officers and non-coms of the combat squads were present, together with a number of staff officers that included Major Prescott of base ops. Moving forward she saw that Sergeant Krenon and Lieutenant Digriz had saved her a seat in-between them on the front row. Both of them were trying to relax, although they shared the waiting look of all that had no idea of the mission that the Colonel was about to brief them. They both looked at her but she simply sat down. When all officers were accounted and present, the doors were closed by armored guards who stood outside and Johnson begun, bringing into action a display of the US on the electronic wall behind him.

"Good morning all. As you might have guessed, we have a major situation. An alien base has been detected on US soil, more precisely in New Mexico. According to the information brought to us by Mr. Williams of the CIA, who is present here and Major Davies of our own intelligence bureau, it is located in the eastern part of the state, more precisely on this small plateau here". A satellite picture of the Archulleta Mesa appeared, focused on one section of the plateau that stood closer to a plainer area. "Our job is to take it out of commission".

Noise of conversation and shifting on the chairs was heard as everyone started to consider the operation. Then one lieutenant from the Fourth stood up and asked: "Colonel, I might be a boot lieutenant, but isn't that sketchy intelligence? And how can you tell that there's something inside that piece of rock?" Even Johnson smirked at the remark as the majority of the people in the room smiled but were also agreeing with the junior officer's comment.

Williams asked to reply to that one. "I know it might seem harmless, gentlemen but me and Major Davis have been close to it and nearly lost our lives. This is the place to where the Supply Ship you shot down weeks ago was heading". 

Digriz turned to Markovitch. "So it was a Supply Ship?" She nodded. "Figures". Krenon added. "Why would someone be driving all of that stuff into battle?" Williams was exactly explaining that point. Another question arose from the audience. "That doesn't change a thing Colonel. We are still going to attack an enemy facility of which we have no idea of the layout or the number of defenders. At least with UFOs we have an idea of both".

Markovitch grumbled as the doubts she had expressed when planning the thing with Johnson appeared. The Russians of Stalingrad base had gotten themselves beaten into a corner in Siberia in a situation that had too much liking with this one for her taste. They could be finding themselves in the middle of hundreds of armed Mutons or some other aliens more nasty and tough.

Johnson raised his arms. "Those points have also been considered. We don't know how many aliens might there be or of what kind. Therefore we are going to drop over a squad before to do some reconnaissance work".

That seemed to bring to calm the discussion. Sergeant Baker rose from his seat. "Sir, will that be with the new flying suits?" The new powered armor had been developed using the anti-gravity ability supplied by the Elerium engines that powered them in conjunction with a miniature version of the guidance systems used in the new Firestorm craft. One of the rocket scientists back at Mother One had come up with the idea after seeing a video of the flying chair that the astronauts used on the Shuttle missions. 

They were basically looked like a power suit with some small modifications and they literally allowed the X-Com trooper inside to hover in the air or take really long jumps. However, the complexity of the control mechanism reduced their combat use. A soldier had more things to worry in a battlefield such as taking cover and firing his weapon at the enemy than making himself a big airborne target for the enemy. But it was also very difficult to control a descent to the ground, even with long jumps. If the soldier wasn't proficient enough he could seriously hurt himself since he was flying several pounds worth of armor and equipment. The suit also used a large amount of Elerium to power itself, which was also in short supply since the only source was intact engines recovered from the alien's UFOs. For all of those reasons only a number of squads at each command had been equipped with the new suits. It offered a bit more protection against a plasma round but they took too much training and Elerium to justify issuing them to all the squads.

"Sergeant, I know Alpha and Zeta are eager to try them out, but this will involve a high altitude infiltration over the target area. Both your squad and Zeta have been training as much as you can but we have decided against it. I'm not going to risk your lives in a drop for which you aren't fully qualified yet". Baker nodded, agreeing but still not one hundred percent happy and Markovitch understood him, since she was also aching to make such a drop. They would however be wearing them during the main assault. 

"That leaves the job to Omega". He looked at King, who simply nodded. "They will drop using a Hercules posing as a commercial plane. The Company will follow afterwards and will deploy to the target area considering what Omega tells us about the opposition and its outside defenses. We think that there should be a hangar or at least some sort of opening here". He pointed to the side overlooking the flatter area. "Depending on which Omega tells us, we can either stage an assault or we try to find some other way inside and catch them unguarded. Colonel Jackson's company will be our tactical reserve: in case we run into trouble they either reinforce us or help in withdrawing". 

Another hand rose in the air. "What aliens are going to be facing sir?" Johnson looked at Williams and it reminded Markovitch of the discussion that she had during the planning meeting. Both intelligence officers seemed to be holding something and Johnson looked also to be a part of the whole scheme. The matter had appeared when they were arguing about the alertness of the aliens for such an attack after they had detected the officers had been attacked so close to their base. Williams had brought the point that they might not suspect any attack since he and Davies were posing as tourists. He had claimed that they had left the area after being replying to the attack and killing the aliens and most likely they haven't found out about the missing guards yet. That idea had struck Markovitch as ludicrous, since any decent commander would be aware of such a thing as base personnel disappearing. That's when the hammer came down. "Captain, we were attacked by hostiles that were human in appearance, most likely assigned to pose as a part of the local population and drive prevent anyway from getting too close. They might only have to report only in specific dates". That had gotten her firing off a lot of questions to her, which they either tried to respond or just kept their mouths silently. Finally Johnson had brought an end to the question by proposing to send the recon team. She wasn't satisfied totally but she decided to forget it for the moment and focus on the mission.

Johnson hesitated before answering. "We…aren't quite sure yet. The Supply Ship was crewed by Sectoids, but we have indications that there might be alien-human hybrids inside that base".

"What?!" The cry came immediately either spoken or not from the majority of the soldiers present. Johnson calmed them down. "Intelligence has data indicating that the aliens are developing hybrids based upon both races. According to them, these aliens are almost impossible to detect from normal humans at sight, but there are some things to look for, like the color of their eyes and skin who is close to an albino. Bottom line: if he or she is carrying any weapons then the humanoid is to be considered as hostile. But you encounter any unarmed humans on that base be extremely careful when approaching them". That seemed to have assured the troops, although Markovitch still heard some low complaints.

"Any questions?" Hopkins raised his big bulk from the chair. "You haven't mentioned Beta's new toys, Colonel. Are we allowed to bring them along?" Johnson smiled at him. "You will Sergeant, since it might be good to have some extra firepower inside that base. However you will only use them if and when I give the order". Hopkins seemed satisfied and sat back. "No more questions? This briefing is over then. Go to your troops and let's get ready for the action".

Archuletta Mesa, New Mexico, US

As the members of Zeta squad moved along the fourth level of the base, Markovitch couldn't keep a dreadful feeling over the whereabouts of the humans that had occupied the higher levels of the facility.

Omega had found the location of the base after their drop, right where William and Davies had reported but hadn't found any sign of aliens outside. They had searched the area around the plateau but there were no indications that there might be a base inside. Looking for the supposed hangar at the base of the hangar had also proven to be a wild goose chase for them. 

However, as the Skyrangers carrying the rest of the team were about to land in an area nearby to hide their approach, King had reported that they had discovered a concealed entrance on the top of the mesa but that is seemed deserted. All of the platoons had moved into the location after touching down on the ground and they had found an old dirt road that led them directly to the location where Omega was waiting. 

They had found the entrance was empty of aliens. It was inside a ruined hut that was surrounded by an aged rusty fence with a sign that said in near gone letters: "U.S. Geological Survey – Meteorological Studies – No Trespassing". 

However, inside the ruined small building, they had found a locked door on its basement that, after being opened, gave the way to a large facility inside through a series of staircases.

The X-Com team was now on the process of going through a facility that was deserted until now, spreading over what seemed to be four levels inside the plateau. They had found no aliens; only the signs that this seemed to have been a secret government facility. Markovitch had wondered if Williams and Davis had actually bothered to ask the government if they had used this place and then abandoned it long ago.

But that was until they first started to find the signs that some sort of confrontation had been taken place inside and that its occupants seemed to have left the base in a hurry. Personal belongings were scattered everywhere on the personnel area and the kitchens were full of rotten food, long turned into unrecognizable darkened lumps attached to the plates and pans. And alongside, in some corridors and rooms there were spent cartridges as if some intense fighting had occurred. And the identity of the attackers was plain for everyone to see in the spent plasma clips that occasionally would be standing on the ground, together with the holes made by the fire of the alien weapons.

The passageway where Zeta was now moving was also full of bad omens regarding the past events of the base: there were paper sheets spread out on the floor, with a dark mark on the white plastic tiles of the floor. Markovitch had already stepped upon a pair of glasses, crunching it into a million pieces. And there were large holes burned on the walls by plasma weapons, revealing broken plastic wires and tubing. The whole place was bathed in darkness and they had to use their suits's IR equipment and flashlights attached to the barrel of their weapons. Dare was constantly keeping an eye on his motion detector while the remaining squad members hold their weapons with both arms, keeping them ready for any foe that might jump from the side corridors. 

They kept moving down the corridor, carefully checking every intersection in a time consuming process, until Prune, who was at the front, stopped by a pair of heavy metal doors that had been blown off their hinges and looked inside the entrance. With a gesture he ordered everyone to stop and the rest of the squad did so, bringing their weapons up to full readiness. "Cap", he called, "come here. I think we just found ETs ride".

Markovitch turned towards Dare, who looked again at the motion detector and confirmed her that there wasn't any movement nearby besides them. She then moved forward to join Prune who had now crossed to the other side and pointed towards the end of the side corridor. Markovitch took a look and saw a bright violet glow coming out of its end. She recognized the light as the one coming from the lifts the aliens used at their UFOs. Nodding to him, she then ordered the remainder of her squad to keep an eye on the corridor while she contacted the Colonel. 

The image came flashing through her eyes and she was turning away from Prune. Deep, sleek alien eyes peering out from every corner of the corridor she was in, until finally they all meshed together on a Sectoid face gleaming white at the end of the corridor where they had just came from. A sudden fear took every inch of her and her reflexes kicked in, making her lift her plasma rifle and fire down at the ghostly appearance.

But as the super-heated plasma traveled the way towards its intended target, giving the white passageway a greenish hue as it disappeared on the depths of the corridor, she realized that the image simply vanished before her eyes. Markovitch blinked them, while the other squad members were turning positions to deal with the new threat. "Cease fire!" She ordered the same second; leaving them a little puzzled about what had just happened.

"Markovitch what's going on over there?" The call from Johnson came up afterwards. "Colonel, we found an alien lift leading down. I overreacted to it".

He seemed relieved by the explanation but his voice was slightly accentuated from the stress that was also building on him. "Hell of a way to put it. One of the rookies on Tau almost pissed on his suit as the shot went two feet in front of him. Keep your heads cool and watch that lift while we finish sweeping over here". She acknowledged and passed along the orders, wishing that they could finish the job fast. To her, the damn base looked more full of ghosts than aliens.

* * * * *

Johnson couldn't stop wondering who had built the base and why. The first four levels of the underground facility were markedly designed to be used by humans: in the first level they had found security checkpoints and an underground garage that opened into hidden doors on the top of the mesa. The second was designed for housing personnel, containing individual and group accommodations, together with a mess hall and recreational facilities while the third and fourth levels seemed to be related to some sort of scientific research.

As he and the rest of Sigma passed through another room full of abandoned workshops, he paused by one of the tables. The whole place was reminding him of Area 19, the top-secret facility close to Area 51 where he had discovered Billings' true identity and also the secrets that General Smith had hidden there, right under X-Com's nose. He wondered if the late general had anything to do with this facility also. If not, then who might responsible? It was evident that millions of dollars had been spend in digging up the plateau to construct the facility and its sheer size meant that it couldn't just have passed the scrutiny of the higher chain of command. Billings, or now Dr. Young, apparently knew nothing of the place and if his story was correct it didn't surprise Johnson at all. He had slowly learned to trust the hybrid and his word: without the help that they had given X-Com, the design and building of the new Firestorm fighter aircraft had probably been impossible for them to achieve on their own. And they also had gone beyond the agreement established between him and Billings: their scientific contribution in a number of areas had been highly praised by Dr. Mantell. 

Williams on the other hand might knew something about the identity of the humans behind this but the circumstances had made it impossible for Johnson to try to find out more about how they had discovered the place. The intelligence officer seemed too much concerned about his own personal quest, whatever it might be and that troubled Johnson. The fact that Vaughn had dismissed him from his position as being the top analyst on the CIA for the extraterrestrial menace didn't help in favoring Williams on his own eyes. He would have to answer for some things when he got back to the base.

Major Patterson moved closer to him. "The squads had finished their sweep of this level. Again, zero for aliens found but Lambda says they found out another of the alien lifts close to our position".

"What's your opinion Mike?" 

"I feel that something strange has gone here and the rest of the troops also are talking about it. I mean this is a typical US classified facility and it seems as if the aliens have overrun the place long ago. How come we never heard of this before or when we signed up for X-Com?"

"My thoughts precisely. Probably the whole place might be deserted, but we need to find out more about what happened here". Moving towards one of the doors in the large dark room. "Notify the platoon commanders: we are getting down to find out what's below us".

* * * * *

The first thing Private Greaves thought as his feet stepped on the metal floor was that the aliens had simply buried one of their spaceships inside the hill. Going down through the elevators that they had found, his squad had first reached a massive cave carved into the natural rock. The Captain had told them that it probably was a hangar since they seemed to be at ground level according to their Global Positioning System attached to the motion scanners that they were using. However the doors couldn't be discerned, just walls of polished granite that sparkled if anyone pointed a light at them. After a quick search, the fifth level was also determined to be deserted of any aliens like the four preceding it.

Moving on as point squad, they had found that the level before was nothing more than a large chamber, only this time lighted by some green fluorescence that came out of the floor, in contrast with the darkness found above. Everyone looked at one another before positioning themselves to go further down and Greaves took the northwestern position. It seemed that something at the base was still working after all. The four troopers stood ready, each one in the corners of the square lift.

As all of them moved further into the pits below, Greaves found himself facing the intersection of two blank gray walls, made of the same material that the aliens used on their UFOs. He heard no warnings from his squadmates, so he left the lift to leave room for Epsilon, who should be coming right behind them. Only then did he noticed that they had arrived at a chamber about the same size as the one above, but this time there were passageways on three sides of it, with the eastern part ending on natural rock. The Lieutenant and Werrett were already moving towards the southern entrance, only stopping to look at the western one before crossing it in a quick dash. Greaves wondered if the aliens could hear the sound of their steps on the metal floor as he positioned himself to cover the west side. Reaching the position he took a peak: a large chamber that seemed much bigger than the one that they were standing was right next to the lift, sprouting eight foot cylinders. Some of them glowed with a yellow light that seemed to be coming out from their interior but others were filled with some semi-transparent liquid, where fuzzy shapes could be seen floating inside. No sign of any aliens though. Feeling a tap on his shoulder, he turned and saw that Epsilon had already arrived. But where were the aliens?

* * * * *

On another location at the alien base, Jones and the remainder of Gamma had already moved into an adjacent chamber south of the lift and had found it also empty of aliens. But they seemed to have reached the base's southern limit, since now the chamber only had passageways west and east. Pairing up with Garcia they both started moving towards their right, trying to keep as much possible to the walls as possible. Jones wanted to put a plasma round up the arse of the alien who had designed the place. These empty chambers didn't had much for cover, and if you approached one of the small corridors that connected them you risked taking a shot on your back or sides if the other passageways weren't clear of hostiles. 

The corridor linked this room to a darker one, it seemed and both men had trouble seeing what was on its inside, even with their passive IR scopes. Then both of them saw a figure moving on the shadows inside and they dropped to their knees. An armed Sectoid was moving away from them on the other chamber, apparently oblivious to their presence, going further into the depths of the darkness.

Jones heard Rodriguez whispering to his mike. "Captain, we have….Coño!" Jones had seen it also. A Cyberdisk had moved into their view, hovering two feet above the ground and following the Sectoid's path. But the smaller alien had stopped on his tracks to look upwards and it made the alien machine stop right by the entrance to the chamber, where it started to turn into the X-Com's troopers direction to choose another path.

He set his plasma rifle into autofire and discharged a burst, but only his first shot hit the target. The rest of them went wild into the ceiling as Rodriguez threw his metal bulk over him, sending both men crashing into the walls of the room where they were standing.

The maneuver probably had saved Jones's life since the Cyberdisk immediately completed its turn and fired back at its attacker, filling the space where the troopers was with heavy plasma fire. Then both men were filled with a shock wave, followed by heat and the wailing sound of a dying Sectoid. The two other troopers on the other side of the room had heard the warning but had refrained from shooting until their comrades were clear. But the moment Rodriguez pushed Jones they had fired their weapons at the body of alien war machine, breaching its armor in several locations. As the energy of their plasma bolts bled to the engine that powered the Cyberdisk, it detonated the Elerium inside in an explosion that left no trace of the machine and killed the alien behind it. 

Meanwhile the rest of First Platoon had also established contact with the aliens on the north as they tried to link with the Fourth. As soon as Lt. Hanley was leading Delta into a chamber close to the main storage area they had been greeted by shots coming from their left. Looking in that direction he saw a Sectoid standing at the end of a small corridor, that afterwards went back through a door on its far end, in no doubt the place from where it had came from originally. 

He waved Kyle and Bearpaw forwards to flush the alien out of its hiding. But as both men started to approach the door, walking close to the walls of the corridor, Bearpaw suddenly came to an abrupt stop and jumped towards Kyle's direction. A plasma shot hit the location where he had just been standing coming from the wall in front of the door. "Sir, there's a window there!"

"Get back!" He looked in the direction of the storage area, in time to see Bradley also recoiling to avoid a series of green bolts that darted from that direction. "Captain, we're in trouble here!" But no response came over the radio. 

* * * * *

"How's it going?" Johnson called to White and Patterson as soon as he cleared the lift and placed himself against one of the walls, with Crossett right next to him. The sound of battle could be already heard through his suit built-in microphones when he had reached the Seventh and last level. Looking around he saw that Fourth Platoon had already moving and only his squad and Beta remained from the Third.

"Colonel", White started, "we have became separated. First and Second are some distance to the southwest, according to the GPS. Captain Jerrel has found some strong opposition and they are trying to surpress it. The Second is trying to link with us but progressing slowly since they have encountered some sort of bunkers. So far they have only found Sectoids and Cyberdisks". Patterson's voice came next. "The Fourth is to the north, getting ready to move into a huge chamber that is directly next to us. Lt. Cruz is leading Omicron and Omega and trying to link with the Second". 

Johnson looked at the other end of the chamber. Sergeant Hopkins and Levine had already taken their heavy weapons from their backs and were busy loading them with football shaped projectiles, while the rest of Beta took a watch at the storage area next to them. "Let's hope we don't need that".

* * * * *

Moving eastwards, Markovitch found that it would take time before joining with the Third and clearing this portion the base from aliens. Kappa had first reported the existence of what they called 'bunkers', enclosured rooms that at least seemed designed to them as fortifications although there seemed to be no aliens inside them.

She had also came up into one. It stood in the middle of the chamber, some eight feet away from the walls, with windows facing all directions that allowed seeing what was going on the other side of the bunker. It seemed empty but as they were approaching it from the north a Sectoid popped in one of the windows that took a series of shots at them, taking cover afterwards.

"Get that window covered!" Dare and Yu stayed put and waiting for the alien to show its ugly face again while she and Prune moved low and forward, each one taking opposite directions as they went around the bunker to find the entrance to the place. On her side she only found another window and she placed herself out it's vision while considering if she should throw a grenade inside. Then her radio went active: "Captain! I've found the door. I…" Prune's voice went silent and a bad feeling swept through her.

She stepped backwards to see what had happened to him. "Prune! Are you alright?" She looked into the direction of the trooper but saw nothing for a second until all of a sudden he jumped back into her line of view, moving so fast that she wondered from what he was running. Confusion clicked inside her as her warrior's instincts told her that he was attacking, as he lifted his laser rifle and fired a three-shot salvo at her. They all hit on her chest and arms and for a moment she faltered, too dumbstruck from the shock of the critical injuries that she had just suffered.

Only after a brief moment did she realized what was happening and why that her armor hadn't been breached. She was wearing the new suits and their protection made the laser rifles almost useless against them. But before she could warn the other squad members she felt an electric shock going through her head while Prune suddenly stopped his attack. 

For the first time in her life she felt her body was the host of two minds, and one of them was trying to overcome the other and gain control of her arms. She realized in astonishment that her index finger was already gripping the trigger of her plasma rifle while her left hand was reaching for a grenade on her belt. Closing her eyes to try to shake off the alien presence, she suddenly saw the face of a Sectoid in orange and green colors, floating in the middle of dark geometric patterns that were constantly shifting. The alien was looking straight at her and grinning and she saw that its arms were slowly expanding themselves and reaching towards her. But as they were about to touch her, a feeling of nausea and repulsion overcome her and she opened her eyes. 

She found herself looking at Prune as if he was at the end of a tunnel and she wondered how long it had passed since he was still in the same position. Slowly the dark edges of the tunnel started to resolve themselves into the features of the alien base. But Prune was already starting to grip his rifle again. "Prune is mind-controlled! Get him!" She moved away from his aim and back to the other side of the bunker.

The alien controlling him probably had a good idea of her position so she crouched as low as possible as she passed below the window, on her way to circle the room. When she reached the other side and looked past the metal corner she knew it for certain. A shot came flying on her direction but it missed hitting the wall on her right. But instead of the heat of a plasma shot, she felt vertigo and a little bit of nausea. "Let's see how fast you can reload that thing".

She broke into a run to the direction of the alien. Passing through another window she saw by the corner of her eye that there seemed to be some commotion at where she had left the rest of her squad but she ignored it. Reaching the other side she turned and saw two Sectoids by the bunker's door, one of them holding a heavy plasma but with its back to her while the other was facing her with a launcher. It had been swift in reloading. She tried to fire at him but one of her feet skidded on the metal pavement and she lost her balance as the alien fired its weapon. She saw the shot, a violet ball, hitting her helmet and ricocheting backwards before detonating, overwhelming her senses and plunging her into darkness. 

* * * * *

The call from Delta nearly hadn't been noticed by the rest of the First Platoon. They had entered an open and wide darkened chamber on the west of the base that was filled with luxuriant alien vegetation. The plants looked more as if they belonged to a marine life documentary. Most of them had no leaves or something that could be characterized as such. Instead they sprouted orange, blue and violet tubes coming from a central pulpous mass on the ground.

The whole cave was more of a short maze: it was two stories high and it was divided into smaller areas that were linked one to another by tight corridors that marked the higher areas about. The alien vegetation was present everywhere, together with another type of extraterrestrial life, that one more deathly and dangerous. Alpha and Gamma were trying to move along the place, but the Sectoids were entrenched, transforming the task of negotiating the corridors very dangerous.

Jones had just thrown a grenade into the direction of one of the aliens that was preventing them of moving to the next clear area. It went off setting ablaze the vegetation around it but he couldn't tell if the alien had been killed. Looking around he saw that the Captain was also busy: a Cyberdisk had just popped up in the higher ground and hit Pershing with a plasma shot that brought the X-Com soldier to his knees. He tried to help the officer in bringing the alien down but to no avail since the alien simply took a couple of steps backwards and moved out of their weapons line of sight. 

On the other side of the room, Sergeant Baker dodged for one of the corridors as a grenade dropped out of nowhere. The explosion filled the area where he was with smoke and injured one of the troopers. Evans joined him in the relative protection of the corridor as he took out a banana shaped clip from his belt and locked it into the ammunition compartment of his heavy plasma. There was some green fluorescence inside the room that came out of the plants and the contours of both men's suits were marked by the hue. 

"This can't go on for very long. Gamma is in trouble on the other side of this elevation". The soldier nodded as he reached for his chest with his left hand and brought his heavy plasma to his waist level with his right hand. "Alpha squad! Let's show them how we do things!" He activated the control mechanism of his flying suit and Evans mimicked his motion. Using the anti-gravity device, he gave himself an upward motion to elevate himself to the level of the higher area above. In a second he found himself looking at a Sectoid and a Cyberdisk standing in the above platform and he killed off the motion but remained standing on the air. The alien was closer to him and tried to react but Baker simply moved his weapon into his direction and fired at it. One of his shots hit the heavy plasma it was carrying while another neatly clove off its leg with the precision of a surgeon, cutting completely through the muscle and bone. The alien shrieked and fell off to the ground below.

On his left, Evans tried to replicate his movement but something went wrong. He gave too much upward thrust and his head hit the ceiling. At that moment he cut the motion but it made him to start to fall down. "Evans! Get it under control!" Baker shouted but it was too late: the Cyberdisk was on the process of turning its attention to both troopers.

The X-Com sergeant was finishing his landing when he spotted the motion of the flying disk and could only use one hand to point at the alien. His shots missed wide to the left, carving themselves into the dark walls of the chamber but the machine was more successful. Stopping its movement, it let go of its own plasma weapon at the other soldier who was only now getting his airborne movement under control. But it was too late for Evans: several green bolts hit him and his hand dropped from the flying controls, deactivating the Elerium device and putting him again under the influence of gravity.

Baker watched in horror as he felt down to the ground below and hit it with his head straight. The helmet stood in a strange angle afterwards in relation to the body: even if he had survived the injuries of the plasma shots he had broken his neck on the crash.

"God damn it Evans!" Another shot burst a purple plant close to him and his white armor became peppered by colored fragments from it. "Time to die asshole!" He located the Cyberdisk and the rest of his squad joined him in bringing down the alien. It simply disintegrated himself after taking a number of plasma and laser shots, transforming itself into a fireball that engulfed the upper platform. 

* * * * *

At the order of the Captain, Epsilon and Tau squads began moving into the big storage area. They had spotted already a couple of Sectoids but they had been dropped by the squad's long range fire. Corporal Logan was one of the first inside, dashing towards one the big containers that filled the room as his squad mates covered him from any alien that dared to poke his head from cover.

Reaching the one to his left he turned his body while still racing and leaned heavily with his back against the cylinder. The other soldiers were starting to move, so he brought his own heavy plasma around the circular glass surface to cover for their advance and took a look on the right side. In the corridor formed by the alien metal and glass containers no motion was discernible, but the noise of laser fire coming from the other direction told him that Tau had just found some alien targets.

Suddenly he felt something moving inside the cylinder next to him and he took a step forwards and turned, pointing his weapon at it. A big brown and orange crab like creature sporting massive claws and a tail was floating inside the dense liquid. Its eyes seemed open but Logan saw that it was dead. The motion was provoked by when he hit the container with the bulk of his power suit. Looking around he saw that some of the other cylinders were filled of other strange bodies, although one had something quite familiar. A human skeleton was placed inside, standing on its feet and facing him. The skull had its mouth opened and it looked to him that it was grinning back at him. "What's so funny?" He whispered but catching a glimpse of movement through the corner of his eye he pumped himself back to cover.

A Cyberdisk was moving along the containers and fired a shot at him that missed and hit the side of the container instead. The alien glass vaporized and the liquid inside started to pour out into the floor. "My turn". He pointed his heavy plasma into the direction of the alien machine but found out that it was gone. Looking around the area he tried to figure out to where it had escaped but a cry from behind told him that something was wrong. Manning was moving to reach his position but as soon as he came out of hiding a full plasma blast caught him squarely on his chest. "Where..?!"

Looking upwards he saw to where the Cyberdisk had gone. The machine had used its anti-gravity drive to propel itself to the ceiling away from his view and was standing now close to one of the towers that were standing on the middle of the room, standing higher than the containers. Another shot came by from that direction and hit him on the shoulder. He felt a sudden wave of heat on that part of his body but the absence of pain told him that the armor had resisted the attack. Getting behind the cylinder again he extended his hand to try to reach for Manning, who had tried to get up by inside, only to crash into the ground again and stay there immobile. However another shot to brace himself as closer as possible to the few cover that he had. He saw the Sergeant and Deckard looking at him and Manning from their backward position but waved them off. "There one of them inside that damn tower!"

* * * * *

On the side of Epsilon, Greaves' squad was also having its share of problems. They had smoked two Sectoids that had tried to hinder their advance but now the alien snipers inside the two towers in front of him were being too efficient in pinning everyone down with heavy plasma rounds. Looking backwards he saw the Lieutenant with his hand to his ear as if trying to talk on the radio, a futile movement that came out of habit, since the suits were soundproof. They were all trying to surpress the aliens inside both towers, but to no avail. The whole thing was turning into a game of shoot and hide that was bogging them down.

The alien plant inside the room was a monstrosity that seemed to dwell in darkness on the contrary of normal plants. All of the members of Omega squad avoided getting closer to the colored tangle of vines and cones that stood in the middle of the room since it would stir occasionally by itself as if it was aware of the presence of intruders inside the room. But the humans paid it little attention, as they used the garden room on the side of the storage area to support the advance of the main force. Rumpole had already managed to hit a Cyberdisk that was on the far side of the room and advancing to bring more firepower into the already beleaguered X-Com troops. It had exploded airborne, spreading debris all over the back area and started a number of small fires but its destruction hadn't helped the main problem. There were four towers in the middle of the room, disposed in a square, and the aliens inside had learned to avoid the windows that lead into their direction after one of them had been downed by Omega's accurate fire. But there were still Sectoids inside that were pinning the other troops down and approaching the towers seemed impossible because of the amount of cross fire that the aliens were able to place.

Leaving the rest of his squad members, King moved towards the western entrance to see if they could cross into the next room and get a better firing position. He moved around the alien plant in the middle and saw that the next room was the one were Delta had been stopped on their tracks by fire coming down of a corridor. 

The alien that popped out again of the door at the far end told him just how risky it would be to try to advance. A triple shot from his weapon hit the wall of the corridor close to him, with two shots passing by him. "No luck here!" He moved back to reach his squad and saw that the alien fire had hit the plant. It was now releasing some sort of greenish smoke from the holes carved by the plasma.

That brought an idea to King's mind and as he went by the soldiers he started to issue orders. 

A few seconds later, Omega squad was about to get into action. King was standing down with his right knee on the ground, with Deschamps standing right behind him and holding his heavy plasma ready. They had retracted to a chamber eastward that contained one of the bunkers like the ones found by Second Platoon, leaving the other team on the alien garden. 

"Get that can opener working. I'm ready". Deschamps took aim at the side of the nearest elevated structure and started putting heavy plasma fire into it. The alloys the aliens used in the walls of the base and the inside of UFOs were tough, several times stronger that Kevlar armor and capable of resisting even the most heavy plasma or laser fire. However if hit from an angle their crystalline structure would stress and eventually give in. The effect had first been noticed by X-Com troops in the middle of UFO assaults. Sometimes a stray heavy plasma shot would cave big holes in the interior walls of the UFO that had previously withstood several frontal shots. 

Two shots of Deschamps's first salvo made hits against the wall but only his second try opened a breach on the tower's side right close to the window. It quickly became enlarged as the Canadian soldier poured more plasma fire. It was the literal opening that King was waiting for. Looking through the scope of his heavy laser, he saw the upper torso and large head of a Sectoid appearing through the hole that Deschamps had cut. He put the sight right on it and, letting go of a small breath pressed the trigger. A golden beam crossed the space between the barrel of his gun and the hole at the speed of light, leaving a burning image on his retina. After a quick blink of his eyes to clear the side effect on his vision he saw the Sectoid falling into the ground. "Left tower clear!" He then moved his aim to the far structure while on the other room was Rumpole also clearing the other two towers from the aliens inside. 

* * * * *

"Go!" Logan immediately sprung into action and started to run for the base of the tower as the call came in the squad's radio channel. He didn't bother to shoot; instead he wanted to get the Cyberdisk's attention without getting killed in the process. The machine didn't disappoint him: a shot dizzied past his right shoulder and hit the side of a cylinder full of a greenish fluid.

Correcting its aim, the flying machine let go of another shot as Logan was almost reaching the tower that hit him on his left knee. This time the armor failed to protect him and he came crashing into the ground, his forward motion sending him sliding to the side of the tower. But the mini-UFO paid a heavy price for its success. Sergeant Grisham and Deckard had left their cover at the time of the Cyberdisk's first shot and now fired their own rifles at the machine. Looking upwards, Logan saw a number of red laser shot hit it and making it falter on the air, right above him.

He realized what was about to happen. "Shit!" Ignoring the pain from his wounded knee he rolled himself around the corner, barely avoiding that the now dead Cyberdisk hulk crushed him as it felt and hit the location where he was standing two seconds before. His radio immediately started cracking: "Logan! Are you alright?"

He was already bringing out his medi-kit while looking for any Sectoids that might be still lurking around this tower. "Yeah".

The Sergeant voice made it quite clearly how pissed he was at the Corporal. "You were supposed to have gone the other way! Don't you know these things go off when they die!?" Logan grinned to himself, thinking that the machine's computer probably also had thought the same, since the other side was less open. However, Cyberdisks went off when they got hit by plasma fire and besides him, the only one who was using plasma weapons on the squad was the Sergeant, who had the lowest marksmanship of the four men team. He looked backwards and saw that Deckard had reached his position while the Sergeant was helping out Manning, who stood sprawled close to the container that had the human skeleton inside. The skull still looked to him as if it was grinning.

* * * * *

The "farm" had finally been cleared of the remaining aliens but at a tough price: besides the death of Evans, Rodriguez had caught a plasma blast below his left knee that severely limited his movement. He could still fight but they had been forced to leave him behind. Gamma was now trying to flank the alien stronghold that was pinning Delta while Alpha had reached the west end of the base and was keeping an watch in a long corridor that linked several empty chambers and that ended at a single door. 

Captain Jerrel looked at the corridor in front of him: it was equal to the description the Lieutenant had given him, with a door at the left side and a window on the right. Both of them seemed to form a perfect ninety-degree angle and, according to Delta there was an alien on the small right chamber. Jones was carefully approaching the window of the room. When he reached it, he took a careful look inside and saw the alien that Delta had mentioned, standing with its back turned to him. He simply brought up his laser rifle and killed it, with the alien having no notice of who had been its executioner. "The door is clear!" He heard and saw the Captain and Rodriguez, who were following him, had already gone inside the entrance behind him and were starting to use a small lift inside.

Following them, he found himself in another corridor, this time pointed westwards that turned on its end to the right, with another small lift at the intersection. "Grenade!" Pershing called and, looking around for cover and finding none he pressed himself into the end of the corridor, with the other troopers nearly crushing him against the wall.

The noise of the explosion was followed by the death cry of a Sectoid that was in the hiding in the side corridor ahead. Jones opened his eyes to see that the walls in front of him were filled of small man sized chambers built into the metal surface. The one in front of him gleamed with ice inside a glass window that accounted for half of the chamber, briefly lighted by the red and orange small lights blinking on top of it. 

They all seemed empty but inside the one in front of Jones he could see the shape of a Sectoid standing immobile inside the small compartment. Its lidless eyes seemed dead but its mouth suddenly opened itself and the door of the chamber started to open. "Captain!" He shouted as the barrel of his laser rifle begun to glow in reddish tones. 

* * * * *

A grenade came skidding down the metal floor, in the direction of Tau squad who now had passed the nearest towers and had cleared more than half the room. Greaves and the other soldiers took cover behind the cylinders, of whom now there wasn't any intact until it went off harmlessly. The whole place was now still a shooting alley, where standing in the open was close to jump from a plane with a parachute. However, the squads on the chambers on the left flank were making the difference as they flanked the aliens and either flush them out into the direction of Fourth Platoon or took them from their side.

As he resumed his advance, a Sectoid suddenly came out of the ground level door of one of the second line of towers that they were approaching. But the alien was unarmed and, waiving his upper thin limbs on the air, it started to try to run away in panic. He was cut down by a shot from Tau's solders.

"The aliens seem to be caving in". Someone commented on the radio and Greaves thought it also. They could now see the metal walls that marked the end of the storage area.

Then it came. A sound so small that nearly passed his attention and that looked funny to him as something too fast for him to discern raced by his right side, almost running into the side of one of the towers that were already behind him. The channel was suddenly active and someone had recognized what it was and tried to issue a warning, but it was too late.

Turning his head and looking backwards, he saw in horror as the other side of the area suddenly became lit in near blinding while light. The silhouette of the still cylinders standing up and one of the towers disappeared for one brief moment under the flare, which was followed by a shock wave that made him take a step forwards to steady himself on his feet. His suit's suppressor cut in most of the noise but the rumble was still loud enough to make him rattle. The light was soon replaced by a thick dark smoke coming out from the containers right behind him, several of which had caught fire and from the liquid inside them that had simply been vaporized by the heat released by the explosion.

A second later someone started to scream into the platoon's circuit, filling it with cries of pain: "My legs! My legs! Help me!" He turned to the direction of the blast but a call cut over the wailing voice and stopped him. "This is Major Patterson. Epsilon and Tau keep your positions and don't show yourselves. Lambda's position has been hit by a blaster bomb! We are moving to help them. Lieutenant you're in charge now".

* * * * *

Moving into location that had been targeted by the alien's bomb, Johnson found the whole area had been completely leveled by the power of the explosion. The only remains left of the cylinders were the supports that attached them to the ground and one of the towers had been reduced to pieces of its walls standing from the ground, torn and gutted by the blast. Lambda's fate wasn't less gruesome. The Captain and two of the soldiers had been transformed into piles of blood and metal that had been thrown against the walls by the force of the explosion. The remaining soldier had been somewhat away from the explosion and only the armor of his power suit hadn't killed him right away, but his legs had been sliced from the rest of his body right by the hips. A soldier had moved to help him but found out that it was already dead, probably from the bleeding and the shock of having both his legs amputated. Johnson saw the trooper indication that the downed soldier was already dead and shook his head in frustration and anger. "Alpha reports they might have found the origin of the shot". White spoke to Johnson. "Let's get back into the other chamber and feed the coordinates to Hopkins right away!" 

Moving backwards they passed by Beta's Sergeant, which was in the entry of the lift's room, getting his blaster launcher ready. It was a big blue-gray tube that opened at one end looking like a bazooka. On its side Hopkins had painted in white letters: Big Momma II. Inside it contained the most powerful weapon that Johnson had ever seem used by individual soldiers on a battlefield, besides the Army's experiments with jeeps equipped wit David Crockett tactical nuclear missiles in the fifties.

The weapon was loaded by its barrel and the projectiles were the shape and size of a football. They were packed with explosive Elerium and carried a fuse that would detonate the matter-antimatter inside upon contact. Each one was powerful enough to level a whole city block and it was X-Com's new weapon, after the engineers had managed to replicate the one retrieved on the aftermath of the alien attack on Complex YY-18.

Hopkins had listened to White's and Alpha instructions and was busy introducing the data on the weapon through a small keypad set on the side of the weapon. Each bomb carried a small Elerium engine and guidance system that powered it through the way to its target. The weapon had two modes available: free-flight, were after its launch from the barrel the bomb could be directly guided by the launcher's operator to its target through a small control joystick; and pre-programmed, where the operator would introduced a series of navigational way points into the computer each one indicating for how it should travel in a particular direction before turning into the next way point. The first mode was better used in an open battlefield and on far away moving targets; the second one allowed it to be used in enclosured spaces, as long as the operator had a precise idea of the obstacles standing in the path to the targets. Any mistake could prove deadly for the soldier using the weapon and for any friendly troops nearby. But if the coordinates were correctly judged and introduced, the combination of the guidance mechanism and of the anti-gravity engine allowed the bomb to make ninety degree turns around corners or for it to stop over an enemy trench and come down directly on the enemy soldiers standing inside it.

When he was finished, Hopkins checked the coordinates again before issuing a warning. "All clear! One…two….three!" He then pressed the trigger.

Although it traveled at half the speed of sound, he saw the football clearly stopping in the storage area in front of him and moving upwards to use the clear space close to the ceiling, avoiding any obstacles as it sped towards its target area.

* * * * *

Slowly, a feeling of warmth started to fill her body, pulling her away from unconsciousness as the chemicals inside her blood stream rose her pulsation. Slowly moving her arms she found them still inside the metal exoskeleton of her suit, but they seemed cold. Opening her eyes, Markovitch found herself leaning against the wall of the bunker, with Prune lying on the ground close to her and being attended by Camay. The young trooper still had a dazzled look on his eyes as he noticed that she had awaken and turned his neck to face her. "Hey Cap. Sorry for what happened back there".

She winced, trying to clear away the last of the stun round that she had taken squarely on the face. Her cheeks and nose were burning but she didn't seem to have any other injuries. "No problem". She replied in a light tone. "But when we're back please report yourself to Sergeant Krenon for latrine scrubbing duty. What happened to you?"

"Dare and Yu had some trouble restraining me. Apparently I started applying my head as a hammer on them when they tried to grab me. But when they finally did, the alien simply gave away from me and controlled one of them". He shivered as if recalling something scary and painful. She looked away from him and to the figures of two Sectoids lying at a corner. She pointed with her head. "Is that the bastard?"

"Yeah Cap, Omicron found the two of them and you laying around on the floor. It looks like the shot that stun you also brought these two down. I'd wish I could kill both of them slowly but the Lt. said he's more worth to us alive". He tried to raise himself but gave up with a cry of pain. Camay was checking on the Captain now but quick turned to him. "Lay down your thick head shit for brains! If the blood clot I think you have on your head gets dislodged from its position you'll either die of a heart attack or the aliens better turn vegetarian if they want to use you for food!" He simply winced.

"Camay, where's the Lt.?" The female private removed the medi-kit that was attached to her arm. "They are finishing clearing the south, Cap. The other platoons are still trying to figure out the location of the command center and are moving towards the area that we haven't checked, but it's being heavily defended by the aliens". As to reinforce her statement the heavy thump of an explosion was suddenly heard. "That must be Beta at work. Am I OK?"

"Yeah. Think you need more stimulant Cap?" She asked before placing the medi-kit away. "I'm awake now". Getting up she saw the stun launcher that had brought her down, lying around the floor with a number of ammunition rounds close to it. "Keep an eye on those aliens. Use this at the minimum sign of trouble". She pointed at the launcher with her feet and Camay nodded. Locking her helmet back on, she grabbed her gun and checked for the position of her platoon.

__

André Galvão, 2002


	24. Hell's Keep

X-Com – The Unknown Menace

Chapter Twenty-Three – Hell's Keep

February 8th, 2001

Archuletta Plateau, New Mexico, US

Captain Markovitch was speeding her way across the base, looking into her GPS and noticing that Lieutenant Digriz's position marked him and the rest of her platoon on one of the alien base's corners. She pumped her legs into a jog until their locating; passing through a number of chambers until she finally reached them. He sounded relief upon seeing her moving into his side. "Glad to see you up, Cap. As soon as we finish here this whole area will be clear and we can join the Colonel. We waited for you as soon as I knew you were coming". 

"How did things go at our end?" She still had no idea of what had happened while she had blackout. "Some trouble, but we've come off light. But…we've found some…prisoners".

"Are they alright?" The Lieutenant's voice seemed uneasy as he spoke. "Well Cap, they are safe for now, but it's better that you and the Colonel see them as quickly as possible and decide what to do with them after all of this is over". She was about to question him about what he meant but the sound of distant battle told her that it was not the time now.

She looked at the last bunker: her troops were already covering its inside, posted at all the windows. Taking a lot, she saw that there was some sort of alien equipment leaning against the walls, but otherwise the place was empty of any bugs. However the red square on the center on the floor and the violet glow indicated that there was still a room upstairs to check. "Let's get it done". He nodded and moved around the bunker with her on his tail, to where two troopers were waiting by the door that led into the enclosured area. Digriz waved them forward.

One of the soldiers activated the entry control inside the metal wall and the other one immediately jumped inside as soon as the door opened with his red laser rifle ready. Both soldiers moved swiftly through the entrance and, after taking a moment to look upwards to the hole on the ceiling. Markovitch followed Digriz as he went swiftly on their path. Suddenly a commotion made her look upwards. "Cease-fire! It's unarmed!"

Both of them got up and when she cleared the lift one of the soldier turned to them and said. "All clear! We found a civilian Lieutenant. He attacked me as soon as I came up and I had to threw him away from me". Looking over his shoulder she saw him: a figure crouched in one corner of the room, in no doubt scared to death. A bent plastic chair was on the floor, probably he had tried to use it with no success against the soldier clad in the power suit.

"He looks normal". The lieutenant commented. "Already checked. Neither one of the others or a hybrid. He's human alright". Markovitch wondered what that was about as she approached the figure. She could now see that it was a frail-looking old man who started to tremble as she came near. His hair was all white and his eyes were small and dark, concealed under thick eyebrows as dirty as his scruffy beard. Getting close she moved a hand to help him get up. "It's OK", she spoke to him but he recoiled backwards against the wall. She then remembered that they were using the armored suits and took off her helmet to show him that they were human. "Take your helmets off", she ordered the rest of the soldiers.

The man looked first in suspicion then in amazement as she uncovered her head, followed by the others. Gathering his strength, he finally spoke, in a groggy voice, before reaching for her hand "Who…who are you?"

She helped him get up. "You're safe now and that's all that matters. Lieutenant, send someone to relieve Camay from watching the aliens and get her here to assist him". She remembered the battle. "And sent Krenon with the rest of men to help the Colonel".

"Finally". He nearly dropped to the ground if Markovitch hadn't moved to grab him. With extreme caution she positioned him against one of the walls and brought up her own medi-kit. Applying it over his chest she saw that his life-signs seemed to be weak but stable but she left that decision to Camay when she arrived.

* * * * *

They had finally discovered what seemed to be the location of the alien base's command center and Johnson's face contorted inside the helmet of his power suit. He tried to forget the tiredness that he was already starting to feel as the result of the intense battle they had been fighting. The remaining aliens seemed to be in a corner of the base not yet taken by his forces and First Platoon had reported that they found a large chamber made of raw rock with a smaller armored subchamber inside. Its location put it west, next to the storage area that they had already secured.

He had ordered it to be completely surrounded but even that process had been done at a cost. In moving around the center, the soldiers had moved into the power plant that housed the Elerium engines that feed the base with energy. But as they were moving down to the lift that led into the engine room, a blaster bomb had come down the hole on the ceiling and hit the point soldier in the middle of the corridor where he was moving. He had simply disappeared under the immense energy liberated by the detonation of the explosive Elerium in such an enclosured space. There would nothing left to bring back to the base and bury than some melted scraps of the power suit that he was wearing. But the troopers behind him had quickly recovered and pressed forwards, killing all Sectoids above before they had time to fire their blaster launchers again.

Now the only place that remained to be swept was the command center itself. Johnson was standing in a room adjacent to it, standing close to one of the red cylinders that occupied every corner of the chamber, placed on top of blue supports. From his position he could see the armored room, where a window was placed on the center of the wall that allowed him to see a small corridor inside. His own motion scanner showed him that there were at least five aliens inside the complex, all spread around the place. Satisfied with his scan he went back into cover, while Crossett, who was standing in front of him, also moved backwards. "Five of them inside. Let's finish this".

The entrance to the command center was located on its west side, a large door that was of a darker gray tone that the walls around it. Two pairs of X-Com troopers were standing by it; each placed on one side of the door as the call came. At that moment Pershing and another trooper carrying the E letter on his right breastplate moved forward carrying their heavy plasmas. Placing themselves beside the door, they hold their weapons with both hands at their waist and waited. Jones was moving behind Pershing and as he reached the door he placed his hand over a metal panel attached to the wall.

Inside the strong alloy surface an alien device detected the disturbance on the small invisible gravity field it was projecting outside. It then automatically created and expanded a larger anti-gravity field that engulfed every inch of the heavy blast door and the gravity waves impelled it upwards.

Both soldiers immediately fired their weapons in the opposite direction of their position as soon as they heard the sloshing sound of the door being activated. The plasma bolts missed the quickly moving door by a fraction of an inch. Inside it a Cyberdisk was waiting some six feet way, its bulk nearly occupying all of the width of the corridor were it was standing. Jones only saw a glimpse of it before it suddenly exploded after taking one of the heavy plasma shots, taking a Sectoid that was standing directly in the front of the doors with him. The inhumane cry it made as it died from the explosion was joined by Pershing exclamation as the blast wave also caught him and threw him backwards. Jones gave a look at him, who was now trying go get back on his feet, before rushing inside and to the right. The other trooper from Epsilon had taken the left route, in a corridor that seemed to surround the inside of the command center. 

Apparently there was an inner chamber and Jones was walking on a corridor made of metal walls and away from the entrance. Passing along a window; he saw an X-Com trooper standing outside and by the opening, covering his advance, who nodded at him. But at that moment he heard a loud blast coming from the other side of the chamber that made him stop.

Johnson had just spotted the trooper from Epsilon passing along the window on his side when the detonation shook him in surprise. Looking at the chamber his brain raced into confusion as he suddenly found himself facing the inside of the corridor as the metal walls disappeared into thin air. The only thing left to mark their existence was torn and sharpened fangs of metal coming out from the ground. "I'm down. Need assistance". The voice of Sergeant Grisham from Epsilon made him jump into action.

He had already realized what had happened: the aliens had tried to use one of the blaster launchers to hit the soldiers who were moving inside the corridor but had missed. Avoiding the remains of the walls, he got inside the corridor through the large hole that had just been opened, with Crossett right on his tail and complaining about his reckless attitude. He negotiated the tight confines of the corridor quickly, taking a number of zig and zag turns through the midst of thick smoke, until he reached his goal.

Standing on the corridor that had just straightened itself, he saw a blast door directly on the opposite side of the one his soldiers had just used. He also discerned among the mist that a Sectoid standing outside. Both him and Crossett immediately fired their plasma weapons, bringing down the small thin creature to its maker.

Some seconds afterwards another figure appeared in front of them, but this time they didn't shoot, recognizing the oval shape of a power suit. Jones looked at them before taking notice of the downed Sectoid in front of him. With one foot he kicked the heavy plasma the alien was carrying away from the body and then kicked the Sectoid to make sure it was dead.

Meanwhile Johnson was bringing his motion scanner from his belt and activating it, while Crossett kept an eye on the door. "Three still inside". 

The bodyguard spoke to him without taking his attention to the door: "You should get back. No point in risking yourself assaulting this room".

"That isn't my intention. Someone inside is playing with a blaster launcher. Well, two can also play that game!" Johnson moved away from the door and was about to call Hopkins when another nearby explosion was heard, only this time it seemed to be coming from overhead their position. It was followed by a number of secondary blasts that seemed to make the inner chamber and the soldier tremble at each one.

"What was that?!" Jones grabbed his rifle tighter while Johnson looked upwards in puzzlement. "Guess someone inside had a very stupid idea again". The comment came from Crossett while Johnson again activated his motion scanner. This time the display unit didn't show any light dots that indicated the origin of the movement as also its direction from the scanner. The only thing that he could see was that his troopers were joining him. As soon as reinforcements got to the front of the room he ordered them inside. "There seems to be no one left but be careful", he told the assembled troopers.

He was right. Inside the chamber, the X-Com soldiers found its floor lightened by a gleaming yellow light, together with electronic displays built into the walls and a central large lift that pointed to the existence of another upper chamber. As they moved to the alien's final refuge they found that the command center had been gutted by the force of the explosives that the aliens had detonated. They saw the purple bases of alien monitoring stations still attached to the ground, together with the bodies of three Sectoids, one of them with a empty blaster launcher close to it.

When he and Crossett moved to join the soldiers above, Johnson was dismayed at the level of destruction he found. There was nothing left still standing in the room. On one of its sides, the metal had been ripped from the wall by the force of the blast, showing the natural rock underneath. Johnson realized that it probably had been the point where the bomb had detonated upon contact. 

Activating the general radio circuit, he spoke the words that everyone was eagerly waiting to hear: "Attention all squads: the command center has been taken over".

* * * * *

Digriz had already sent for Camay and was gone himself to lend a hand to the other squads and Markovitch was looking around the large room. Its basic architecture made it alien in design but there were some things that lent it a little bit of humanity, besides the stench that she now started to notice. There was a small sleeping cot made of several pieces of clothing that seemed all sewn together. Next to it there was a jumpsuit as old and dirty as the one the man was wearing, hung upon a protrusion coming from a pole that was scotch taped to the metal wall. Moving closer she noticed in disgust of a plastic bucket half-full of human feces and urine in another corner. 

On the other side of the room there was a workstation of some sort, made of a broken plastic board placed upon two metal containers. Pieces of disassembled machinery littered it, together with notebooks and some tools. Markovitch opened one of the notebooks: the paper inside was already starting to turn yellow and the edges were curving. It was filled with some sort of technical annotations that she couldn't make any sense. She put it down.

Digriz came close. "Captain, the Colonel is calling. They have taken over the command center and killed all the aliens inside. The base seems to be ours". She had completely forgotten of the fighting. "Tell him of what we found here and about the other prisoners. Get the injured ready to be evacuated and take care of things for a while Jim". He nodded and led the two troopers still in the room down. Camay got in the room right afterwards and she immediately went by the figure and checked the man.

"He's all right, I guess he just had too much for one day. He will be up in no time". Camay went to work on him and after some seconds, Markovitch saw him stirring and coughing. Regaining his consciousness he turned to them. "Thank you. I never thought I'd see a human face again. These alien bastards! I hope that Attila died slowly".

She turned away from the table. "Who?"

"The alien who was in charge of all research on humans. I used to called him Attila because although they can't express or feel emotions he seemed to take pleasure in what he did to me, specially when he mind controlled me for no apparent purpose". She recalled the sensation and nodded. "I know what you were saying. He tried to do the same to me but now he's unconscious and guarded".

The man nearly jumped to his feet, taking Camay by surprise. "Be very careful! He should never, but never be allowed to awake unless he's in total isolation! He only needs to feel a human presence to try to attack it!" She nearly recoiled. "What should we do?"

"For now have some one applying him heavy doses of sleeping drugs. They will work on their metabolism and should be enough for now. But afterwards place him on a facility completely isolated from the outside. He must never be aware of where he is or of any human, by sound or sight". He came to her and examined Markovitch. "You say he tried to control you?"

"Yeah, I guess. I felt his presence inside me but I managed to make it go away somehow". His eyes went open wide with joy. "Excellent! That means that I was right! Soldier, I'll need to make some tests on you to confirm it, but you must be the proof of what I've suspected for long!" He moved his hands in the direction of her head but she took a step backwards. 

"Now wait a minute there! First it's Captain, Captain Markovitch mister! Second, no one is going to run tests on me!" He was puzzled for a second but quickly smiled, trying to reassure her. "Why Captain you don't need to be afraid. They will be quite harmless and simple, only to determine your level of psionics".

She surely wasn't convinced. "Psi what?"

"Psionic power Captain. The thing that Attila tried to use on you. What I've been researching here for more than twenty years even after the aliens took me prisoner to help in their other nasty work. You might be the next step on human evolution". Camay was standing on the room and at that last sentence she looked at Markovitch in puzzlement. "Tell me, can you feel It also?"

"It? What are you talking about now?"

"The alien collective mind. See, they are all connected to it you know. I can feel it sometimes because of all the time that I've been mind-controlled by them". He brought his hand to his chin. "Maybe you haven't just been close enough to them to start feeling it".

That sent a shiver down Markovitch's spine as she recalled some of her dreams in the past year. "Mister…". He interrupted her. "It's Doctor Finkel, Captain and very much pleasured to meet you". She felt as if he was looking at her like she was a lab rat. "Doctor, start over all of that from the beginning, will you please?"

* * * * *

It was already late evening and the fighting had ended for hours with the breaking of the aliens' will to fight after the destruction of the command center. The few remaining Sectoids had either panicked and ducked into hiding or were easy prey for the squads assigned to hunt them using motion scanners. 

But to Johnson it seem that it was still a long way to go before they could pack things up and head for home. In fact, it would be the packing that would take a long time. The captured base was a treasure of supplies and information and most of his remaining men had been assigned to start collecting the material and take it up to the hangar level. The Skyrangers that had brought his team here had already left, carrying the wounded and the unconscious alien that was capable of mental powers, escorted by a fully armed squad. He had alerted the scientists back at the base about how to contain it, based on the information given to him by Markovitch. He would be kept back at Papoose, where there were fewer personnel and less chances for it to try to use its mental powers.

Jackson's force had also arrived and a few hours later White informed him that an Army major in charge of a battalion was trying to contact him from outside the base. He had ordered the other Colonel to turn back to Pollock base with most of his forces, since there were no aliens left to fight on the base. Jackson hadn't been too much pleased but with his men occupied here, there was the need to have the other team available in case the aliens made an attack on the US. In the case of the Army major he had to be more adamant: the officer insisted that he had orders from the Secretary of Defense to enter the back, despite Johnson telling him that his help was no longer necessary. By the end he was forced to pull rank over the major and order a squad to keep an eye on the small camp that housed the US troops and their vehicles close to the landing pad.

He was alone in the ruined command center, trying to understand what had happened here. It seemed that the alien carrying the blaster launcher had deliberately killed himself and taken all of the aliens and equipment inside the room as well. Their bodies were still lying around close to the walls to where they had been thrown by the shock wave of the explosion. Was it just an accident, a wrong coordinate set into the guidance mechanism in the rush of the attack or did he really do it to prevent his capture and of the information that this room was sure to held inside the ruined control tables?

Moving towards the large central lift, he realized that it didn't matter at the end. The base had been taken over with acceptable casualties. He still felt troubled by that word, 'acceptable', from the moment he had used it to make his first report to Major Prescott and Mother One. 

Six men had died and an equal number had been injured out of the plus fifty he had brought here. A full platoon had been taken out of commission in a fight that didn't last for more than an hour. It would take a while to replace them but the worse was for the ones who had been left behind. For some they had been fighting a major war for more than two years, with few chances of getting back home to see their loved ones or even take a leave. In some cases they had managed to bring their spouses and children closer to the base, taking jobs in Vegas or other city nearby, but he had heard that some simply had received letters from attorneys informing them of divorce suits being filled or simple phone calls.

That left most of the people at the base left only with their comrades, the ones with whom they fought, trained and lived under the same roof. When they got back at Area 51 the mood would be somber and dark for some time, as their deaths would be hard to come over.

Reaching the level below, he was startled to see the large doors in front of him opening but tried to relax as a figure in power armor came through and saluted him.

He replied almost casually and Lt. Digriz started to speak. "Sir, the major told me that I'd find you here".

"What's the problem, lieutenant?" He had given Patterson orders not to be disturbed for some time and he didn't felt particularly happy of having to get back to deal with the whole base.

The young officer simply paced uneasily on his feet. "I'm sorry sir. You should just came with me and see for yourself. It's…."

Johnson felt complied to work him to simply speak it out, but noticed how distressed he was. Too much stress was going over everyone, not just him. "Lead the way then". 

They left the command complex and headed out without saying a word for the direction of the lab area, with Crossett following them. They finally reached a chamber that had a small lift located in a small space surrounded by metal walls on three sides. Digriz looked upwards before getting into the red and violet light, clearly fearing something and Johnson wondered what it might be. On his back Crossett gripped his heavy plasma tighter.

Waving their arms upward inside the lift, it propelled them to another alien room. Its general disposition was the same of most of the ones found in the base but this time the walls had long rows of glass containers rimmed with a metal supporting structure.

Johnson nearly recoiled and he felt his stomach tightening as he noticed what was inside, while Crossett uttered a small curse. The containers were caves and most of them seemed occupied. Living things, moving and wailing and occasionally hitting the glass, and most of them seemed….human.

There was a man that had six arms, the two extra pairs coming out from underneath his armpits, together with another extra set of legs. He was using them to bang on the glass in a mad rage and screaming. Another was a woman with her body and skull full of scales and a tail coming out of the end of her back, making her look as if she was a walking lizard. She was looking at them with attention but occasionally would hiss and open her mouth to show long canines. In a cage next to hers, a moving mass of flesh colored tentacles could be seen, some of which seemed to be grossly deformed legs and arms. On its top a human head stood out, staring at them. 

The room was filled with the deafening noise from the alien's generic experiments: some were making guttural, animal sounds, while others were sobbing and crying while hidden in one dark corner of the cages were they were standing. It stuck Johnson that they probably were still perfectly conscious of what the aliens had done to them. But the majority would be plainly aggressive at the X-Com soldiers.

"Oh my God…" It was too much for him to hold and he headed back down, with the two other men following him. When they reaching the lower level he took a deep breath and tried to calm himself. Digriz waited for some seconds before asking: "What are we going to do with them sir?"

Johnson found himself too shocked to clearly think, after seeing the horrors above. "I….I don't know". He listened to his voice and it surprised him how weak he had sounded.

"Sir, we gotta help these people". Crossett simply shook his head. "Lt., they are way beyond our help".

Johnson saw Digriz look back at the soldier with surprise and anger. "We have to take them back! We just can't leave them here!"

"Yeah? To where? I've seen them once and they will plague my nightmares now for the rest of my life. They have just made me decide that I'd prefer to kill myself than to be captured and turned into one of those poor bastards above".

That last remark made Johnson realized what was to be done. "You're right Crossett. The aliens have taken these people away from us for good. They have either lost their humanity or their will to live and will never be accepted back into society. They are already dead".

"Sir! We have labs back at the base. There must be something they can do to help them, to reverse what the aliens have done to them".

The Colonel shook his head. "I understand your feelings Digriz, but I seriously doubt it's possible with our present technology. And even if we could, would you want to go through the same thing again that the aliens did it to you, without knowing if it would work?"

Digriz thought about it for a second, then suddenly hit the metal wall with his hand. "Shit!" He started banging on the surface with both his arms, using all his force. "Shit! Shit! Shit! Shit! Shit!" It lasted for two seconds before Johnson and Crossett grabbed his power suit and pulled him back from the wall. He simply stood there, closing his eyes to clear the tears while the other two men had to hold him to prevent Digriz from falling into the ground since his legs seemed to have gone limp.

"What are we going to do sir?" He spoke in a meekly voice as both of them pulled him up. Seeing that he had gained his strength, Johnson let go of him and dropped his hand to the holster on his belt, taking out his plasma pistol from it. "The only humane thing left". Digriz looked in shock as he realized what the Colonel meant.

"I'm not going to order you to help me. I leave it to your conscience to decide. Either way I'll take full responsibility afterwards when I report this to Commander Illyuschenko". Both Crossett and Digriz looked at each other before answering. _And God have mercy on my soul_, he spoke to himself. 

February 9th, 2001

Far Side of the Moon

The Large Scout was travelling high above the surface, moving through a number of stationary alien ships of all sorts and sizes keeping a loose formation while on the Moon's orbit. The inside of the craft was crowded with two Sectoids manning the piloting stations, while the Commander and two other high-ranking officers stayed on the background, watching the space. 

Although their gaze was lost upon the view ports full of bright stars, their minds were in a hurried frenzy, an indefinable state unattainable for any human, which mixed logic with primeval instincts, together with a number of telepathic links between them and the rest of their crew. But the most disturbing one was a new presence that started to be felt as the smaller craft had approached a UFO that seemed to dwarf them. As they moved closer and closer the Sectoids inside got more restless, although their expressionless faces were the same and the black eyes were as lifeless as before.

The craft finally docked and the trio moved to the airlock on the back of the UFO, which had been connected by the lower castes into a similar opening on the larger craft. The workers had already left the area in a hurry. The three Sectoids moved through the sealed connection and, inside the other craft, moved through a series of corridors and elevators. On their way they passed through a number of aliens of all sorts of races, who didn't even seemed to notice them. 

Inside each one of them, the tension was rising as they approached their destination. When they finally arrived at the doors leading into the bridge of the UFO, one of the Sectoid officers panicked, letting go of a small shriek and starting to retrace his steps. The other two hesitated as they saw him moving away from him but stood motionless, simply giving him a placid look before turning to face the door.

The Sectoid had already covered some distance and started to turn backwards, when the bridge doors suddenly opened themselves with a whooshing sound. The two other Sectoids immediately took a step to the side as a loud roar was heard coming from inside the room, followed by the sound of a plasma pistol being fired. The green discharge hit the fleeing Sectoid on its back, and threw him to the floor, were it stood tainting the metal floor with greenish blood. However, the alien still kept moving and tried to get himself back up again.

He didn't go too far. A Muton dressed in a scarlet suit came out of the door, still holding a smoking plasma pistol on his massive hand and looked at the body. Its shoulder and neck muscles were completely tensed, looking more like steel cables that stood clearly against the tight fabric of his uniform. He saw as the injured Sectoid finally got up and, still trembling, tried to run away.

Using his powerful legs and hips the Muton got close to the running alien with three steps. One of his large hands grabbed the Sectoid's head as if it was a basketball and pulled it close to him, stopping the other alien's motion. The other hand slowly placed the pistol back to the holster on the Muton's suit. Then he placed it on the Sectoid's neck and, with a sharp push followed by a cracking sound, the Muton separated the other alien's head from its body. Looking at the disentangled pieces of the Sectoid for a second, he dropped them afterwards to the ground.

The Sectoid Commander and the other officer didn't saw any of this happen. Instead, their attention was fixed on the newcomer who had just appeared on the doors to watch the demise of the smaller alien. If there had been humans present, they would never forget the sight of the other creature. The alien towered over the Sectoids and wearing an orange cape that hid his body. His head was partially covered by the vests the alien was wearing, which had an upraised tall collar on the sides and back. But the front of the collar narrowly opened itself to reveal a bald and ghostly face. The extraterrestrial looked at the now dead Sectoid and opened his mouth, revealing sharp fangs inside. Releasing a small hissing sound, he then turned to the two Sectoids but didn't make a sound as he faced them, with their minds connecting instead. Meanwhile, the gray flesh around the Sectoids black gloss eyes slightly contracted a movement so subtle that only they took notice of it. It meant that they were afraid, very afraid. 

Some time later one of the ships of the alien flotilla detached itself from the position it was occupying and started to move over the Moon. When it cleared the natural satellite it accelerate into a high-speed dash into Earth's atmosphere. 

Archuletta Plateau, New Mexico, Earth

The process of clearing the alien's base from useful components or equipment was going into full scale now after it had been cleared of the remaining aliens. Johnson had ordered a full company of Theta security personnel to help in the process and also to maintain a safety perimeter. 

The regular Army troops were still in the area, keeping an eye on their activities. The officer in charge of them had tried to call Johnson on the radio a number of times, but he had managed to keep them outside, claiming that the base wasn't fully secured and that the major should contact his X-Com's superiors.

They had found a way to open the facility's massive hangar doors and now forklifts where being used to transport heavily laden crates to the Skyrangers who where parked outside and waiting to bring the cargo back to Area 51. It would take a couple more days before the whole process was complete but things were going smoothly. 

Johnson and Patterson were supervising the whole process from outside, close to the hangar, still clad on their power suits. A trooper that was holding a pair of electro-flares on his hands and waving them up about to lift up from the ground guided a Skyranger that was about to take-off. Below the cockpit, someone had painted a brunette pin-up, wearing too few clothes for her body's voluptuous curves. She had been drawn laying her back over a representation of Earth, her spine fully curved around the sphere, while underneath it was written on white letters: "The X-Lady". Some of the squads were over there, trying to rest before the call would came for them to leave back to the base, their job already finished. They both felt terribly dirty inside but there were some things more important to before heading back to base. 

Patterson spoke with a voice tired. "Hopkins has finished setting up the explosives on the lab you have ordered demolished. I told him not to discuss the matter with anyone afterwards. Both of us didn't understand the reason why you asked us that but after seeing what I saw there…"

Johnson put a hand on his shoulders. "I know. Thanks". The Major looked down. "You've done a terrific job Mike. You should get some sleep and food on the small camp they have made. Seems that things are running smoothly now". Johnson also wanted to lie down as well.

"I might. However there's something else for you to deal with: the rescued scientist. He's still down there and is refusing to leave the labs until all the necessary information has been retrieved from them. He claims that it's more important that all of the Elerium or the weapons we are salvaging".

Johnson winced. "Markovitch is still with him? Tell her to get the guy moving".

"I did but it she told me that you should get down there and see it for yourself". He shrugged his shoulders. 

Johnson picked up his plasma rifle. "Very well. And get some sleep Mike". He dismissed the Major and headed back to the lift that would take him to the seventh level.

After getting down to the lowest level he moved across the base's chambers in his way to the lab where the scientist had been kept captive by the aliens for years. The whole place still gave him the creeps, especially when he came up upon the bodies, either Sectoid or human covered in tarps. A column of about a dozen captured Sectoids passed by him, heavily guarded by two squads in power suits. He moved to the side and watched the restrained aliens, who had their arms tied on the back. The entire column seemed to ignore him but the Lieutenant in charge saluted him as both men passed by one another.

He sped up to his destination and came upon one of the enclosured rooms that were the entry to the labs. Opening the door he came inside and used the alien lift to get to the upper level. 

Markovitch was there, together with a couple of other troopers who had put down their weapons and were occupied following the scientist's orders. "Be careful with that you idiot!" The man shouted as one of the troopers nearly dropped a strange looking device from his hands. He then noticed Johnson and spoke: "Get those crates upwards. And where's the damn commander?"

Johnson crossed his arms in front of him and stood there. "Sir, I am the damn commander". He then looked back at Markovitch who simply made an expression of hopelessness.

The scientist didn't waiver. "Very well. You should get this out of here as soon as possible. This took years to research and the lives of countless research subjects". Judging the man impossible to deal with both their present moods, he ignored him and turned to Markovitch. "What's going on here Captain?"

"Well the doctor here claims that he has been working in understanding the alien's mental powers while he was imprisoned here. He says that it's possible for humans to use them using his research".

"It is you fool! Haven't you learned anything from what I told you?" He took from the soldier's hands the object that he had nearly dropped. "See this? This is the prototype of a device that allows psi conscious humans to replicate the alien's control powers". Johnson looked at the thing. It was a large tube about the size of a forearm that had a violet globe in one end and spikes at the other.

He wasn't impressed. "So why haven't you used it to get out of here?"

"We had to work in secret to avoid that the aliens discovered that we were working on this. But by the time we completed it there wasn't anyone of us captives left that had enough psi capabilities to use it. The aliens had for long used them on their experiments". 

Johnson was shocked at the impersonal tone that he used in speaking of the people that the aliens had used for genetic experiments. The same captives that they had just killed for mercy, placing plasma shots into their heads. "Doctor, first, how did you get here? I'm trying to understand how an alien base this large has sprouted here out of nothing, specially when there's a war going on between us and them for two years now".

"I was recruited for this project in 1973 and brought to this base. The government told us that they had known about the alien's existence for a while and that the base had been built as a place for both races to interact and learn from one another". 

Johnson and Markovitch looked at one another. "The government? Now who in the government did that?"

The scientist looked puzzled. "Our superiors, I don't know if they are still the same now. Why haven't you came before to rescue us when the aliens took over the human part of the base and killed most of the people there, taking the rest of us as captives? Why did you had to wait for the hostilities to start?" Seeing Johnson's face he continued. "You don't know what I'm talking about? Who are you? For whom do you work?" He started to bring the device closer to him. 

Markovitch replied. "We belong to X-Com doctor. That's a force that is dedicated into investigating and fighting the aliens. And until now we never thought that the aliens had ever established a base on Earth or that anyone here had been working with them". The man looked back at them in suspicion but kept his mouth shut. 

Johnson came closer to her and whispered. "Don't say anything more. Something is very wrong here. We need to get him back to Area 51 so that Robinson can conduct a full interrogation and find out what was really going on here". She nodded and he turned back to him. "Doctor, there seems to be some misunderstanding here. I would like you to get back to our base as soon as possible so that you can clear this out with my superiors".

His voice had turned hostile. "I'm not leaving until I know what's going on and not without my data!" He took a step backwards.

"Very well doctor. I'm sorry it will have to be this way. Captain, restrain him and get him onboard a flight to Area 51 as soon as possible with an escort". She nodded and the two troopers dropped what they were doing and grabbed the man who was about to make a run for the lift on the middle of the room.

Ignoring his protests and threats, Markovitch ordered the men to bring him up. "And Sheila, I'll send some of our scientific personnel available over here. Try to salvage as much as possible because we'll need it if we want to understand what was going on".

Area 51, Nevada, United States

The air defense klaxon suddenly brought Major Prescott out of his small nap that he was taking in the middle of the control room. "What's happening?" He demanded, before looking at the war board and seeing a red dot that indicated a threat approaching the continental US.

"Radar has detected an incoming bogey entering the upper atmosphere, right over Greenland…speed over Mach Ten!" The operator's voice became troubled. "How is this possible?" Prescott moved over to his side to check for himself. "Check the radar signature against known UFO profiles". 

After a while a surprised response came. "Sir! It's one of their very large craft!" Prescott started to worry, remembering the scarce information they had about those UFOs. "Can the Firestorm at Pollock intercept it?". The technician started to punch up commands and trying to come up with a viable intercept vector. "At its present speed, negative. The bogey is just going too fast!" 

There goes the change to get it airborne before it lands and makes damage, Prescott concluded. They would have to fight it on the ground and it was better if Jackson's team left as soon as possible. He looked at the board again, trying to see where it was heading and something made him concerned. "What's its target area?" 

"Makes no sense: it's not heading for any military base, either ours or regular military or to any large urban settlements". He looked back at the non-commissioned officer. "Show me a projection of its flight path!" A thin line started to come from the red dot until it had crossed over the whole US. Prescott's jaw dropped as he saw that it intercepted an area where a large number of X-Com flights were either destined or leaving the location. "Jesus! Get me the Colonel this minute!"

Archuletta Mesa, New Mexico, US

Johnson was seated down on the floor resting, still inside his power suit and using a rolled-up blanket from one of the Skyrangers as a pillow for his head who was leaning against a crate. He suddenly heard armored steps going in a hurry until they came closer to him making him open his eyes. Corporal White was standing over him, speaking with a dazzled voice. Sensing incoming trouble, Crossett had gotten up from his position where he was guarding Johnson. 

"Colonel, Area 51 just informed us that an alien Battleship is heading towards our position!" Johnson jumped to his feet. Already, he thought, wondering if they had hit the aliens hard enough that they would retaliate that soon. "What's the status of base clean-up?"

"There's still a lot of things that we will have to leave behind, sir if we departure now. In any case, right now we don't have any transports available. The last one just departed a few minutes ago". White anxiously waited for orders.

"Tell it to clear this location as soon as possible. All non-combat personnel is to take cover in the lower base levels. And tell all available squads to get ready for action. And get Major Patterson to warn the Army commander outside: the aliens seemed to want this place back and it's better if his men get clear of this area". He got up and started locking the helmet of his power suit into position. 

Close to the New Mexico – Arizona border, US

Skyranger Four was on its way back to Area 51 after having loaded a full complement of alien equipment retrieved from the alien base. It also was carrying the rescued doctor, who was standing with his hands handcuffed on his front in the cargo section, together with two guards from Theta security company. The man and woman had been ordered to deliver him to the intelligence bureau as soon as they hit the runway at the base.

The scientist looked sullen during the take-off and the initial part of their flight but the guards could also see that he was fully aware of them, making them redouble their attention. After a while he changed his mood and started to look at the plane and his surroundings with some interest.

"I thought we had become more advanced in all of this time. Tell me, to where am I being taken prisoner?" The Theta soldier looked at him for a second before answering. "Area 51 in Nevada".

Dr. Finkel raised his white thick eyebrows for a second, before casually asking. "Area 51 it is hum? Now please tell me, is General Smith still in charge?" Both guards look at each other in puzzlement but decided to keep their mouths shut at the mention of the base's former commander.

"I think it still have some recollections of the place. I remember the Soviet MiGs that they had secretly recovered and stashed a hangar. By the way, what's the Soviet Union up to nowadays?" That made the guards even more surprised. The woman replied: "Don't you know? The Soviet Union is dead for years now after Reagan defeated them".

Finkel's eyes looked at her in discredit, but his curiosity begun to arouse. "Reagan? Who is he? The current President?" The woman looked at him in disbelief. "You don't know how Reagan was? He and Bush made us him the Cold War and the Soviet Union disintegrated afterwards. It's in every history book".

Believing more of the story now, he pressed on. "So we won the Cold War after all? How many millions died in the nuclear exchanges?" The woman looked back at the man who shook his head. Let the intelligence spooks in Iota deal with him and don't talk anymore.

Seeing their faces, the scientist realized that they had decided to keep him in the dark and not tell them anything else. _Too many changes seemed to have happened. Who is that arrogant Colonel? How can someone like him be placed into charge of such an important operation? Someone back at the place were we are heading will understand the news I'm bringing. But not that Johnson, he's merely a soldier, being told to fight the aliens even if he can't fully understand them._

The Skyranger slightly shook and he looked through the window. They were crossing the cloud level, the pilot moving them upward to avoid the winds of the storm underneath it. _This X-Com, they are merely toys to be played with and discarded, like I once was. The real danger is not here, now I know that, I've learned it after all the time with the aliens. _His mind became filled of memories, of a dark a sinister chamber were he had gone too many times, of a specter that now seemed to be all around him again. It never ceased to amaze him how mankind could be so blind. 

Archuletta Plateau, New Mexico, US

Patterson moved closer to Johnson who was now watching the huge hangar doors of the alien base close themselves again. "Area 51 just informed us that both Firestorms are on their way here Colonel. But they will arrive too late: in four minutes the alien Battleship will overfly us. All positions are manned and ready. We have sealed the entrances on the first level and there are squads in position to deal with any intrusions from that end. The non-combatants are all on the seventh level".

Johnson nodded. "Let's all of us get to the back of this place. I the aliens might try to blow these doors with the weapons on that ship to get inside. At least the rest of this place was built as if to hold a tactical nuke". Both men started heading backwards calling all the personnel who was still around to get some cover.

Area 51, Nevada, US

Prescott could only look in horror and helplessness at the board that displayed what was about to unfold. The alien Battleship had finally reached the position of the base and whispered a prayer for everyone who was still inside. The atmosphere inside the control center was more akin to a funeral: no one spoke and if one dropped a pin on the floor it would most likely be heard.

Then, to the puzzlement of everyone in the room it didn't stop as it reached the position of the base, instead it kept moving into a westward course. All of the men and women stared at the lit board in a mixture of relief for the ones who where back at New Mexico and wonder. But a dreadful feeling come over Prescott and he tapped the non-com's soldier next to his side.

"Sergeant, is that my impression or the UFO is heading towards us?!" The red dot had passed the area of New Mexico and now the projections for its course put its flight path directly over Area 51's location. The man nearly jumped on his chair as he realized what the Major was saying.

"Sound the general alarm! All combat personnel report to their battle positions!" Prescott knew that there was hardly any troops left at base besides a few squads worth of rookies and the wounded who had been flown back from New Mexico. The aliens had caught them completely undefended and unprepared. He doubted that the base defenses would be able to stop the attack of the battlewagon that was heading towards them. Or that the Firestorm airborne would be able to intercept the UFO before it hit the base. 

There was no time to launch any other interception craft. However, looking at the dot again he saw that there was another blue dot besides the one that designated the Firestorm, indicating that there was another X-Com craft in the area. "Who's over there?" 

"Skyranger Four. They are on their way from New Mexico to here". The answer came back to Prescott. "Tell them to back away to a secure location. This area his going to get hot!"

Over Arizona, US

The pilot's voice was suddenly heard on the cargo bay of Skyranger Four by the intercom. "Everyone hold yourselves back there! There's a UFO heading for Area 51 and we are right on its path! We are proceeding to a secondary runway"

Both security guards immediately moved to get safety restrains on the scientist but he kept himself quiet, in cold realization of what was about to happen. "There's no need to that. It's pointless". He simply spoke as they finished putting a safety belt on him as the plane jerked to a left turn. The movement threw them to the other side making them hit the stored crates, where they stood cursing and trying to hold themselves. 

He look upwards and started speaking in a mumbled voice, not caring if the guards or anyone else understood. "It always knew about me, there was never any way to hide myself. And now It just can't let me go because of what I know". The plane suddenly jinxed into another side and everyone in the cargo bay suddenly felt as if it was dropping on the air as their stomachs pressed upwards. The pilot's voice came again but this time almost in panic: "Shit! Control just told us that the UFO is chasing us! I'm trying to get the plane down to the ground!" 

The scientist smiled, knowing that at least it would all be over quick. A few seconds afterwards a fireball hit the Skyranger on the top of its fuselage, penetrating it as if it was wet tissue and burning the plane into a airborne pyre of millions of fragments and finally releasing him of his mental thralldom.

Archuletta Plateau, New Mexico, US

The hangar doors were now opened again, since Prescott had told them that the UFO's destination was not their location. Johnson and some of the officers stood outside, trying to understand what was going on and waiting for news from Area 51 about the attack. The minutes passed slowly as everyone looked at one another in anxiety, trying to understand what was going on.

A crack on his radio made Johnson listen for a couple of seconds and all officers gathered around him, waiting for news. After he finished receiving the transmission, he acknowledged it and turned to the waiting men and women around him. "White has gotten a communication from Area 51. The UFO wasn't also heading for them. It attacked and destroyed one of our Skyrangers before heading back into outer space. They had no time to bail one. There are no survivors". He closed his eyes. It could be worse but it still hurt to see the aliens kill his people, more so if they were flying an unarmed craft. Markovitch came closer and asked. "Johnson, what Skyranger was it?" 

"Number Four. Five casualties confirmed". She opened her mouth in horror and motioned him to get to a place away from the rest of the soldiers. They stopped in the middle of the landing field. "The scientist was on that flight!"

"What?!?! And his research?" She pointed her armored hand at the base. "Still inside. We didn't had time to board it in the same flight and you wanted him to be flown back as soon as possible".

"Not everything is lost then. But we needed to fully interrogate him to understand what they were doing here and who was behind it. Something stinks here and someone will have to be held responsible for the horrors we have seen inside this place".

She nodded. "You're right, but there's something even more important. The destruction of that Skyranger was intentional. The aliens knew who was inside and how important he was". His voice turned more grave. "How do you know?"

"He told me things before you arrived. I didn't believe them at first but now I'm not so sure. About a great alien consciousness that knows everything. And seeing what has just happened I'm getting shit scared, Erwin". He looked at her and saw it also. He wanted to embrace her but he couldn't in the front of all the troops. Instead he placed his hand on her armored shoulder and looked in her eyes to reassure her. "Don't worry Sheila. When we get back we'll get to the bottom of this. Now let's finish our job here and head home".

__

André Galvão 2002


	25. The Enemy Within

X-Com – The Unknown Menace

Chapter Twenty-Four – The Enemy Within

February 12th, 2001

Unknown location, Geneve, Switzerland

As Number Two looked at the faces around the table, he was secretly bemused by everyone's reactions to the latest events, which went from complete astonishment to full rage. That was much evident from the effort that most of the individuals in the room were trying to do in conceal such emotions.

The news of the detection and take-over by X-Com troops of the alien base in New Mexico had made quite an impression over everyone. Some showed pure shock, others seemed as if they were about to explode in anger. Number One was the most neutral of them all, in no doubt trying to assume the fatherly figure, who corrects the children's mistakes, so that we could use the advantage to retrieve the latter protagonism of Three.

"I take that you all have heard from the situation on New Mexico. Why have we failed to detect that possibility and how did X-Com find out about the base are my questions. Would anyone care to answer them?" The words weren't actually a question but a simple test. Failing it could mean the loss of power and prestige or something even worse.

Number Seven made an attempt to start. "The day before the attack our agents reported that a high-ranking CIA officer traveled to New Mexico and met a former FBI subdirector there, who is presently working for X-Com. They were under orders to keep them under surveillance and act if it was necessary…."

"Stop making excuses for yourself you fool!" Three's voice cut through the speech. "They got ahead of us on this one and that's a fact! Our agents have been unable to prevent them from finding the base, which means that they are as good as dead. Their strike team left on the early hours of the following day and we were only informed on the attack while it was in progress! They were just too fast for us to react on time". Another thought came to One's mind and he considered for a second the possible consequences if he had taken a different course of action. It came to him that while Three talked, some did what was necessary around here. 

"You were supposed to have them under watch, you guaranteed that they wouldn't be a threat to our plans. The aliens will sure react to this like they attacked the Japanese base. And where might their next target be? Just imagine if they decide to eliminate all of the human opposition and take out this location killing all of us at the same time?" The accusation and fear on Number Eight's voice was clear for everyone to hear. 

"The aliens will do nothing!" Two decided it was enough and was time to intervene. "We said nothing to them when they decided to take control of that facility several years ago without asking for our opinion. And X-Com had a fluke of luck. Or they are not as stupid as some of ones claim and must have somehow plotted the possible course of the Supply Ship they shot down and figured out to where it was heading. 

They might actually have done us a favor. We all know what was going on the base and X-Com probably discovered that the secrets it contained were probably better if they stayed buried forever".

Three threw a quizzical look at Two, wondering what he was about, but he continued. "The only mistake we are committing here is of not considering X-Com as an important part to our plans so we constantly underestimate them. On the contrary, the aliens seem to take them very seriously now. We have information that they shot down of one of X-Com's planes shortly after the takeover. Most likely it's the beginning of retaliatory raids, something that they have shown to be perfectly capable of, when they feel directly threatened as we saw in Siberia. And their use of Mutons on the attack on the Japanese base shows that they are taking the measures that seem fit to them to deal with X-Com. I say we act accordingly".

"What are you proposing?" Three was suspicious at this turn of events.

"Our friends have taken upon them the task of dealing with X-Com. We have already seen that the nature of the organization and its secrecy precludes any direct interference on them. But we can influence them through other ways, namely the countries on the Council. Time will soon run out for them, either taken by the aliens or us or both!" Two looked at One and Three, who nodded as expected by him. In a time of crisis showing a solution was always appreciated and by the rest of the leadership, particularly when things went out of control. Even though that support was more akin to trusting to take a step into quick sands and still keep your head afloat.

However, some of the other members weren't fully convinced and Four's forehead became wrinkled. Nine and Seven didn't also try to hide their own suspicions. "Like you said, X-Com has become powerful, if misguided and missing the whole picture of the events. And this CIA agent, this Williams has turned into a liability. How do we know that they won't track this whole event back to us?"

One took the turn to respond. "As we all know, power has no rival to match its own. I'm sure our associate has already foreseen that possibility about Mr. Williams". Two nodded to One's underlying statement, knowing that one day or the other everyone would come to his same conclusion over Williams. Competition for the numbers was the strength of the group, either from the inside or the outside. Pity and protection only made the ones who gave it weaker. The CIA analyst would soon find out about that, even if he didn't know about it. 

One kept talking, but now turned to number Seven. "Furthermore, I take it that all necessary safety procedures were taken by the agents involved?" He trailed at the end of the sentence, to make sure that Seven understood that it wasn't a question, but a matter of fact. If any blunder had been made he would pay with his life for it.

"Of course. The two operatives had no indications on them that might lead to us. In any case, they are more likely to be considered base sentries, since they were hybrids. That will also be a confirmation of their theory about an alien 'fifth column' already established. Since there were none of our personnel left at that base for years since the confrontation there will be no trace to us. And we can always make new clones to replace the ones we lost". Seven looked around to the top numbers, wishing to be considered again as reliable. One and Two didn't say anything, in concordance, but Three had stopped paying attention. He was already making future plans on how to deal with both old and new players in the game. 

February 15th, 2001

Pollock ANGB, West Virginia, US

As the Skyranger landed on the wet tarmac of X-Com North American Eastern Base main runway, Colonel Johnson looked at the rest of the staff that he had chosen to accompany him to the Eastern X-Com base, all like him dressed in parade uniform, still unsure of what to do. One of the first presidential orders issued by President Vaughn on his first day of office had been a request made to visit the X-Com's US facilities responsible for dealing with the extraterrestrial situation and hear a personalized report from the US commander. Only apparently Vaughn hadn't been properly briefed about the legal status of X-Com or any of its bases: it wasn't a part of the US military and the base was now under the administration of the United Nations. The captured Sectoid officer that was being held at Papoose Lake was too much of a security risk. Since its capture at New Mexico, the alien had managed to mind influence in a few occasions the biologists that were investigating him. There was no way that Johnson could allow for the possibility that the US President might be Psionic influenced by the alien. The resolution of the whole matter had required the intervention of the UN's Secretary General, who managed to conciliate both parts with a bit of common sense using his diplomacy skills. The visit and meeting had been set instead at the other X-Com base in the US, an initiative that had been deemed as 'acceptable' by the presidential staff.

He had decided to take with him Markovitch, Hopkins and Crossett, leaving the other senior officers back at Area 51 in case the aliens decided to take some action while he was gone. Markovitch was sitting by him while the other two soldiers were on the other side of the Skyranger, taking use of the available space. The Sergeant had decided to take off his suit and spread his bulk around several seats to take a nap during the flight, while Crossett seemed to be relaxed although Johnson knew that the man would be quick to react to any event. 

The Skyranger taxied on the runway and headed for the area reserved for parked aircraft, passing by the blue and white 747 that was the President's official airplane, the Air Force One. That struck Johnson as odd, since Vaughn was supposed to arrive after him, according to the schedule, not before. Markovitch picked up his surprise and put her hand over his. "I know what you are thinking: don't worry, things will be fine". He looked back at her and at that moment the Skyranger's ramp begun to lower itself, making everyone inside the plane to get up and check their uniforms.

When the officers begun to get off the aircraft another surprise came up to Johnson. He was expecting Colonel Jackson or some other high-ranking X-Com officer to greet them upon their arrival but instead he found a group of Secret Service agents all dressed in black suits and sporting MP-5 Heller and Koch submachine guns in plain display. When they approached the group, the agent in charge stepped forward and said: "Colonel Johnson?"

"Yes, what's the meaning of this? Where's Colonel Jackson?" The agent ignored his query and kept speaking. "You will have to leave your sidearms with us, sir. No one is allowed to carry weapons near the President".

Markovitch nearly jumped at the demand, while Johnson frowned. Hopkins took a step forward and spoke. "The Colonel is the commander of this base. You cannot tell him what to do, son". That brought an automatic reaction from the agents who tightened their grip on their weapons. Looking at the corner of his eye, Johnson saw that Crossett and Markovitch were getting ready to draw their sidearms.

"Everyone cool off!" He ordered. "Mister, we haven't been informed of this and like the Sergeant said, I'm on charge of this base". The agent didn't soften a bit. "Security procedures. We will have to take hold of your sidearms while you remain at the base, one way or the other" he pointed the submachine gun directly at the group, leaving his intentions quite clear.

Markovitch came closer to him with her arms raised, trying not to make any move that might be classified as hostile and spoke to his ear. "We are all carrying plasma pistols. There's no way we can allow them access to the weapons". Johnson nodded and made a decision.

"Mister, for your own security I can't allow you to guard the weapons since they can be a threat to anyone not trained in dealing with them. May I suggest that we leave them on our plane while we stay here?" The agent looked hard on him for a second and nodded. 

A few minutes afterwards the group of X-Com soldiers was storming to the main building of the base, with everyone furious about being searched by the agents for concealed weapons after they had left the plasma pistols onboard the Skyranger. The building looked more like a bunker, but in front of it three flagpoles carried the flags of the UN, US and the official X-Com patch, full black with a red cross on a white circle on its middle. The US flag was on the middle, standing two feet higher than the others, something that made Johnson think also.

The doors in the front opened and he felt more relieved, seeing Captain Hunt coming through them to greet the visitors and saluting as he approached them. "Colonel Johnson. Welcome to Pollock. Pleased to see you sir!" He smiled but it was obvious to everyone that he wasn't also enjoying the situation.

They all returned the saluted and the compliment, shaking hands with him afterwards. "Thank you Captain. Now can you tell me what is going on around here?" The smile on his lips quickly disappeared and was replaced by a face of apprehension. "Beats the hell out of me Colonel. When the President arrived, two hours before what was scheduled, the Secret Service immediately started issuing orders. All the weapons and armor have been placed into storage and there are two armed agents guarding them". Johnson frowned and Hunt quickly added: "Don't worry, I have a couple of troopers seeing that the dumb heads don't try to do anything funny like retrieving a couple of heavy plasmas".

"And Colonel Jackson authorized all of this to happen?" Markovitch asked.

"The Colonel wasn't too pleased at the beginning but when he met the President he simply ordered us to do as the Secret Service told. He has been talking to the President on his office from ever since". He stopped. "What is going on Colonel? I mean I don't know much about protocol but these guys are acting like if they run the place. And I never heard of anything like this happening on a regular military base".

Johnson shook his head. "I don't know Leo. How are the troops seeing it?"

"Well, some of them got pissed at their arrogance, specially the ones detached for security. You don't just get here and disrespect who's doing their job. To tell you the truth a confrontation nearly broke out between some of the men and the agents". That got everyone looking back at him in astonishment. "Don't worry, it got defused really quick. The nom-coms and junior officers are taking an eye on the hotheads, and they are few since it seems the majority of the troops seem to like Vaughn".

"I see. Well it's time that I finally meet Vaughn and get some things straight out of this mess". The other officer took out his black beret and raked his fingers through his hair. "I hope you do Colonel. This way please". He pointed towards the doors and the X-Com troops started to follow in to the inside of the building. 

When they finally reached the Jackson's office they found it closely guarded by a number of more Security Service agents. Only Johnson was allowed inside and he had to submit to a body search for concealed weapons, something that he only acquitted after deciding not to enter more clashes with the President. When he walked inside he saw Vaughn and Jackson already standing up and waiting for them. He saluted both men and Vaughn immediately approached him and smiling, offered his hand. "Colonel Johnson, finally what a pleasure".

While shaking it, Johnson kept staring at Vaughn, trying to decide if the compliment was sincere. "Thank you sir. I was also expecting this meeting".

"I apologize for it not happening sooner but my other duties have occupied my time. However, now we can start talking about all of this situation". He pointed to an equal number of chairs and the three men sat down on them. When Vaughn sat down he started speaking. "I'm here by myself because I want to have my own opinion of the leaders of our forces that are dealing with the alien problem. General Thompson and several other key personnel already told me their opinion about both of you. I also prefer not to have a group of aides buzzing around me the whole time".

The sentence made Johnson think and he gave a side look at Jackson. The other officer seemed completely absorbed into the President's words. Vaughn didn't miss it and he added. "I can assure you that there's nothing to worry about Colonel. I've already talked to Colonel Jackson and I've seen that he's the excellent officer that they told be that I would find here. And I have complete confidence that you will not disappoint me either".

"I'm doing the best I can at my job to defend North America from the alien threat, Mr. President".

Vaughn stopped for a second, thinking of something. "Now we can start by there. You're not protecting North America, Colonel. I believe that your job is to defend the US and, naturally the countries that border it, our neighbors and allies".

"I will have to disagree with you on that sir since we are not a US force. In fact, we are X-Com's North American force, in the true meaning of the word since we also have some Canadians among us". Vaughn's voice dropped a tone and his demeanor was less cordial, as if he had been offended "Colonel, I don't need a lesson on semantics please. 

"I apologize, sir. However I must insist on one point: as soon as all of us joined X-Com, we stopped to respond to the US chain of command". Vaughn raised a finger. "Point well taken, Colonel. But it's also true that you are on…" He looked in the air for one second. "…temporary leave for assignment to a multinational force, if I recall the charter correctly. You still belong to our military". Johnson saw Jackson nodding and came to the conclusion that the other officer seemed to sympathize with Vaughn's ideas. 

"And our current status will remain so, unless the force is dissolved by decision of the Council or if the officer decides to rescind his commission or if he is found to be unfit for the duties to him assigned. I also know the Charter, sir". 

Vaughn stared at him. "Legal technicalities Colonel. The Charter doesn't mention a lot of things also, namely the fact that you have been chosen by us to the position that you now occupy because of your loyalty. In fact, that document is missing on a lot of other things". Something on the tone of his last phrase disturbed Johnson but he couldn't say what it was. "Sir, what's the point of all of this is?"

Locking his fingers on his lap, Vaughn replied. "Colonel, you know what has been happening around our country in the last months. To be sincere I believe that our political and military strategy to deal with the alien situation is completely wrong. Yes, I've read your reports about how X-Com believes that there's an alien base out there in the solar system and that we need to destroy it to stop their attacks. But in my opinion that's a complete waste of time and effort". Johnson only wished to tell him what they had already found out about Mars and the base somewhere located there that controlled the whole invasion. Taking a deep breath he restrained from speaking since the information was X-Com's greatest secret and probably the only way for the victory since the rate of UFO activity only seemed to increase every month.

Pointing his finger down, Vaughn continued. "The problem is here, Colonel, on this planet. Not in the middle of space. There is no massive alien invasion that is going to happen. If it was, they would have made it years ago and wouldn't have allowed that we developed weapons based on their technology. That's what the aliens want us to think and that we make wrong decisions based on that preposition. If they have the resources to conquer us, why haven't they done it yet? Can you answer that question?"

"I don't know sir. However their activities are increasing every day. They have started to perform terror attacks on cities on a monthly basis…"

"Of course! As the time passes we became more strangled into a strategy that is outdated and poorly conceived! And meanwhile, they gain more strength from our weakness. I see this as the same situation as Vietnam, Colonel. They are using the same type of guerilla warfare that has brought us to our knees before. Even if we find that base and destroy it the effect will be that same as if we had invaded and conquered Hanoi. The enemy will just keep fighting until we loose the will to fight. Each time the aliens gain more support to their cause while we have to work with not so secure allies. The enemy is also within us Colonel and that's where we must begin to fight it. That's why I made the announcement on the campaign, for the Americans to be informed that they should start questioning things. The same way that you should be".

"And what should I question sir?"

The next words came down as a hammer. "The future of this force. Two of its funding countries are already gone and there's no assurance that more wouldn't follow the same path. If X-Com gets disbanded one should ask what would happen if the work of the last two years wouldn't suffer the same fate. Most likely Earth would suffer a major set back giving the aliens more time to secure their position until it's too late". Until that moment Johnson had never seriously considered that possibility but he immediately rejected it, shaking his head off.

Vaughn reached over and placed his hand on his shoulder. "Colonel, I don't like that hypothesis also but one must prepare for the worst. Like everything in life X-Com has good things and bad ones. I consider you one of the best soldiers this nation has but we risk that Vietnam repeats itself: we have the men and the equipment but our general strategy is wrong. Two years ago we created a multinational force out of bad compromises. There's no effective leadership to it: the US was the most logical choice to be place ahead but for the sake of consent it was placed upon the UN. And because of it General Illyuschenko spends more time squabbling over Council meetings making him unable to recognize the errors on X-Com's strategy. The scientists have done a terrific job analyzing and replicating the alien technology but for what? Right now your force is too dependent on Elerium, a material that they tell me it isn't available on Earth. Take it away and we will have no weapons to defend ourselves against the aliens. We should have concentrated more into developing Earth's technologies allowing us to equip large forces capable of defeating any alien intrusion. Instead we have less than a hundred soldiers equipped and trained to defend the US".

Confusion was racing through Johnson's mind. He heard Jackson's voice on the background. "We should be placing battalions of troopers on the alien's probable targets. Then we would see if they even tried to attack us". Looking back at Vaughn, Johnson asked. "So what are you exactly proposing Mr. President?"

"Right now I think that the most urgent matter is to restore the confidence between the US elements of your force and the Pentagon. You simply can't be running operations on our country without the necessary authorization". Johnson looked at him realizing how Vaughn had managed to go all the way through to the presidential office. The man's arguments sounded good, he concluded, but were they solid enough? "I came here also wanting to solve that, sir. But I must insist that we are under UN command". 

"I can assure you that I am completely aware of that Colonel. Don't worry and keep on doing your job as good as you have done so far. Things might seem complicated at the moment but I trust that in the future they will be resolved. Just remember where your loyalties are Colonel". After discussing some minor issues the meeting ended. After Vaughn had left Johnson and Jackson also talked for a while, taking the opportunity to discuss operational issues until that finally was over. He then headed for the cafeteria where they told him that the rest of his entourage was waiting. 

He found Markovitch and the rest over there, seated on metal chairs with coffee mugs on the table in front of them. As he approached them, they rose and she moved towards him. She asked with a concerned. "How did it go?"

"I'm not sure. He has got me thinking into a lot of stuff. But right now it's not the time to worry about them. Let's grab our ride and head out for the base". They trailed him, throwing concerned glances at one another. 

February 23rd, 2001

Mother One, Black Forest, Germany

When both physicians finally came out of the infirmary Illyuschenko and Colonel MacTaggert were eagerly waiting for them outside, standing in the base's medical center lobby. Turning to them, he asked immediately. "So?"

Both psychiatrists looked at one another before the one on the left replied in a low voice. "This is one of the worst psychiatric cases we've ever seen Commander. He simply has all of the major clinical symptoms: esquizofrenia, paranoia. This man is hopelessly insane and has lost all touch with reality. I doubt he even will be able to remember who he is". Both doctors shook their heads. "Doctor, can we ask the lad some questions anyway?" MacTaggert asked but their expressions were disapproving.

"He has a completely unreliable behavior. We had to examine him completely tied down to a bed because he has had violent seizures before. And any question about what he experienced will only trigger such attacks. I doubt that any medication will have any effect on him, because the problem. It seems to be more psychological than physical, although the encephalograms and CAT scans show some irreparable damage to the brain cortex. In any case it's hopeless Colonel".

"Doctor, we need to know what happened with him and his platoon. We just lost eleven men, not to mention a tank and a Skyranger. And he is one of the best platoon commanders on this base. I can't accept what has happened to incompetence".

A tortured scream came from the room that the doctors had just left. The other physician shook his head again. "He was one of the best, Commander. I'm sorry to say this but medicine can't help him now. He's living in a nightmare now that he'll never wake up from. I'm afraid that only death will bring him any comfort now. Now please excuse us because we have other patients to attend to". Excusing themselves both doctors left the two officers who stood looking at the door from where sounds of a fight could be heard.

Watching the other men leave, both officers stood there at the front of the door. "I don't bloody understand". MacTaggert seemed filled with rage. "A platoon should been able to deal with that large scout even if they had lost the tank". Illyuschenko seemed deeply concentrated. "I'm more concerned about the identity of the aliens Colonel. Your report says that you found no trace of them, only the bodies and the wreckage of the Skyranger".

"Aye. Besides the landing marks of the UFO there was no other physical evidence of them. But the rain must have washed everything because we didn't even find a trace of their blood or footprints". A series of loud screams cut him off. "We only found him hiding in a hole and the remains of the men that the aliens left behind after cutting them up". Illyuschenko looked upwards towards the sky. "Issue a warning to all teams: a new species of aliens seems to have appeared". He looked at the front doors for the medical center and checked his watch. "We should go back to the command center. We are already late and I only wish that the damn machine was operational two days ago".

February 21st, 2001

Spitzbergen Island, North Atlantic

The Skyranger was about to land close to the Large Scout that had been detected hours earlier by the radars of European Command. Making its way through a cold weather front that was crossing the Atlantic, the plane had now gone 'dry feet', meaning that it was now overflying dry land. Not it mattered much to the soldiers inside. The windows of the plane were covered with drops of heavy rain glowing with the interior red lights. And the lousy weather that was characteristic of the North Atlantic at this time of the year was constantly jerking the aircraft, as the pilot tried to get them to their destiny.

The commander of the platoon, a Spaniard called Fuentes was growing restless as the drop call already came. He had orders by Colonel MacTaggert to retrieve the Elerium engine from the landed UFO intact, something that was bothering him. Large scouts could be deadly inside since they had small rooms where the aliens could simply wait for a soldier to step in and take him out with a heavy plasma blast. And at close quarters the armor of the power suits would be hard pressed to resist such power. The most logical thing to do would be to step inside the craft and use their own heavy plasmas to cut holes through the walls and surprise the waiting crew. But the need for Elerium dictated otherwise, meaning that they could also only use explosives in case of an emergency.

Looking to the back ramp he saw that the Heavy Weapons Platform that they had brought along for the operation was already operational, with its laser turret swinging from one side to another. The artificial intelligence inside the machine's thick chassis was monitoring the radio channels used by the pilot to announce imminent touch down. It had already reacted to the warning and had powered itself automatically and performed a check-up of its systems. The rest of his platoon seemed to be also ready: the troopers were finishing locking down the helmets on their power suits and inserting ammunition clips into their plasma weapons. Passing his eyes through his laser rifle, Fuentes also saw that it fully energized and ready to fire.

A more severe shook of the plane, accompanied with a thud on one of the walls told him that the aliens seemed to be ready also. The pilot's voice followed afterwards in a Germanic accent: "Lowering the ramp…. The landing zone is very hot Kapten! Good luck". Another thump accentuated his warning. He activated the platoon channel. "Black squad, left flank. Green squad, right. UFO is to the northeast. Tank is pathfinder". 

The lowering ramp started to come down and everyone assumed their positions behind it. Fuentes was on the last row, together with Private Morelli, an Italian that was his fireteam mate and the platoon's heavy weapons specialist for the mission. He was carrying a heavy Carl Gustav 84mm rocket launcher and his backpack was loaded with extra rounds. Fuentes didn't think that the weapon would be useful because of the terrain. Located on the middle of the Atlantic, Spitzbergen Islands were nothing more than the above water top of long extinct submarine volcanoes. Most of their terrain was made out of granite, basalt and other rocks formed from the hot lava as it cooled down by the Arctic climate. In some areas there was actually soil, allowing for plant life to grow and the islands were actually inhabited by a small fishing community but there was nothing else out there. The UFO had landed on a clear spot in the middle of an area covered by medium size boulders. The rocks would make it hard for Morelli to actually hit a target hidden behind it.

After a couple of seconds the back door of the Skyranger finally came down and the tank rolled outside into the rock and ice terrain. Immediately it became bathed with heavy plasma fire, that colored the view of the gray landscape with green. "Targets". The mechanical voice started to report, without a trace of concern for being under heavy fire. "Nine, one and six o'clock". 

The troopers started also to descent the ramp as the tank moved to acquire and engage the major threat. "First contact targeted: unable to identify. Firing". That made Fuentes puzzled since the electronic systems should be able to recognize the race of the alien that it had just encountering. He wanted to leap out as soon as possible to have an idea to the battlefield but two more rows of troopers were still in front of him, dropping off the ramp to the sides and taking cover.

The noise of the confrontation started to increase, as laser and plasma rounds were exchanged, together with the loud explosions of grenades being tossed around. A louder sound was suddenly heard coming from ahead, followed by the sound of metal being twisted. Realizing what might it be, Fuentes started to worry. When he finally jumped off the ramp he saw what he feared: the wreckage of the tank stood ten meters away from the craft, releasing smoke into the middle of the storm that was pouring rain down on the battlefield. The body of the HWP showed heavy craters from plasma fire, together with peppered holes that could only come from a grenade.

Other screams followed, only these time more human in nature. Looking around he saw that his platoon was getting under cover amongst the larger rocks that filled the flat terrain around him. Trying to see the direction of the aliens he noticed that they seemed to be everywhere, pinning them to the ground. "Joder! What are we facing?"

The sergeant of Black squad replied to him. "No idea sir. I haven't seen one of them yet but Bjorn has some major injuries from their fire and Andreas is dead". The voice of another troopers replied to his questions. "Floaters. I've seen the caped figure of one on the air. Took me three plasma shots to bring it".

Floaters? Fuentes asked himself, thinking that he had never heard of one taking three plasma shots to finally came down besides the fact that the aliens seemed more smart and aggressive than before. Looking around he saw that he was down to two squads plus himself. Considering that they were facing the crew of a large scout he figured that they had even odds against them. 

The X-Com team was arranged in a semi-circle around the Skyranger, whose bulk covered one of their sides. They needed to break out and head for the UFO, whose dimmed shape could be seen to the northwest of the Skyranger. "Morelli! Make use of your launcher to clear the path towards the UFO. Black squad move out. Green squad surpress fire". 

Fuentes watched Morelli move out of the rock where he was standing and direct the heavy weapon at the direction of the UFO. Resting the barrel of the launcher on his armored shoulder, the soldier pointed the weapon and fired. 

The recoilless launcher contained the energy of the launch of the launch and the only indication that Fuentes had of the discharge was when the high explosive projectile hit its target, some hundred meters away from them. The blast hit a medium boulder where the officer had just seen a shape taking cover and shattered it into several smaller pieces that came flying out of the expanding fireball. And a roaring sound was heard, something that none of the X-Com soldiers had ever heard until that moment and that made some of the men in Black squad hesitate for a moment before they started their advance.

Moving into the direction of the UFO, the gray figures of the X-Com soldiers were covered by the heavy rain that had already set down the fires from the rocket blast. A number of plasma shots coming from both sides rose as well but Green squad immediately replied to the alien fire, scoring a number of hits among the darkened figures that rose from behind the rocks that littered the battlefield. The ice on the rocks and ground became melted by the heat of the exchanges, the water joining the puddles and small streams that where present everywhere.

Moving quickly and firing as they advanced Black squad finally managed to reach the cross shaped UFO, using the both arms of the craft for protection. Another trooper had been brought down in their effort and he laid halfway in-between Fuentes' position and the UFO. But soon the fighting outside would be over and they could assist him. Black squad's position meant that the aliens would be forced to leave their positions and start heading back to the craft, unless they wanted to allow that the X-Com team assaulted their way of getting off Earth.

"Green move out!" The remaining troopers started to move out of their positions, covered by the other squad's fire. Advancing in the middle of the squad, Fuentes noticed a caped figure about to fire at them on his right. Slowing his pace, he turned his laser rifle and fired first at the alien. He wasn't expecting to hit it, since he had hardly taken aim and he was moving but one of the three-shot salvos that came out of the barrel hit the alien bringing him a smile on his lips.

However, his mood quickly changed as he saw that the laser hit didn't had any effect on the alien, who simply ignored it and fired its heavy plasma back at the lead running trooper. Fuentes watched in horror as the corporal raised both his arms before falling into the ground. One of Green's two remaining privates slowed as he approached the fallen soldier's position but Fuentes ordered him to continue his march. "Nikolas! Keep on moving! You're only making a target of yourself. We'll pick him later!"

Reaching him he pushed him forwards and they both kept their pace, finally approaching the UFO. Black squad kept firing to cover their approach, standing close to one of the craft's arms. On the other arm Fuentes could see the rectangular outline of the UFO's door through the amplified scope on his right eye. There were only seven X-Com troopers left and one of them was injured but they still had enough numbers to take care that the aliens wouldn't be going anywhere. 

Then, all of the sudden, Fuentes saw Morelli stop in the middle of his run, twenty meters still away from the UFO. He was about to order the soldier to move forward but instead what happened next made his speechless.

Without even bothering to point or Morelli simply brought up his rocket launcher and fired at the UFO. The Carl Gustav rocket flew the space between the soldier and the craft in less than a second, detonating afterwards. Right in the middle of the three X-Com soldiers of Black squad who where using the fuselage of the craft for cover.

Fuentes simply didn't hear the explosion. He stopped his pace and watched as the explosion ripped through the troopers' armor and sent them sprawling into the ground where they laid down without moving. "Morelli!" He screamed on the microphone.

The other trooper's response was to turn at him and drop his weapon. When his voice was heard the words came out in stress and in the middle of heavy breathing. "Captain! I can't control myself! Something is making my arms move by their own!" Fuentes didn't have time to consider his words. The door in front of him suddenly slided upwards and a caped figure stepped outside brandishing a heavy plasma on its limbs.

Turning his laser rifle towards it, Fuentes unleashed a salvo of amplified light towards it. To his amazement one of the red streaks of light simply stopped a few centimeters from its target, while the other two hit but having no apparent effect on the creature. They cut circular holes on the gold and orange garments that covered completely the alien but it had been hurt underneath it didn't show. 

It simply fired back; killing Morelli with a shot on his head that left a dark and bloody hole on the side of the helmet that was hit. As it turn towards Fuentes, the officer saw two bright eyes burning at him in the middle of darkness that filled the dark opening of the hood that covered the alien's head. He felt his inside freeze, a glacial feeling that seemed to crush his chest and fill it with dread. Inside of him, a fear behind everything he had ever experience erupted. Panic overwhelmed him and his rationality ceased to exist. He dropped his weapon and started to run towards the direction of the Skyranger, trying to escape the monsters that were all around him. 

March 3rd, 2001

Area 19, Nevada, US

The Papoose Lake facility still gave Johnson a bad feeling every time he went there, remembering him of the late General Smith. In fact, in the debacle of the New Mexico base he knew now for certain that something very wrong was affecting the US, eating at it like a hidden cancer. Someone had poured millions of dollars into building and sustaining these secret research facilities and no one in Washington seemed even aware of them. He had forwarded requests to everyone regarding any information to base occupied by aliens: Department of Defense, CIA, FBI, NSA, no one seemed to ever know about their existence. For more than thirty years it had stood right in the middle of the US but no one had noticed its presence or even acknowledged having entered into previous contact with the aliens. It was one of the reasons that made Johnson extremely distrustful to the US chain of command: either someone was lying or they were simply being manipulated. Taking in consideration all things, some of Vaughn's ideas seemed logical and right. However he still wasn't too sure about them because he felt it was just wrong to throw away the international cooperation developed in X-Com. Even if it was the work of the powers that were siding with the aliens on the conflict. And what troubled him more was that he couldn't discuss the situation with anybody because of the security level of certain aspects of it. Only the regional commanders, Dr. Chevereux and Colonel Robinson were aware of the full information about Mars and the alien base there. They had all made an oath stating that they would only reveal the secret by common agreement or if X-Com was disbanded. He was waiting for a chance to talk back to Williams about a lot of things and set the record straight between them but the opportunity hadn't arrived. Johnson trusted the CIA man more now, after the information he had given to them was correct. But his actions also showed that he had decided to follow a path different from the one President's Vaughn was defending and Johnson couldn't tell yet if it was coincident with X-Com's. 

The lift that linked the ground floor to the underground levels stopped and he got out. Taking the corridor that lead into the office where he and Young had the conversation that changed most of what he thought of the world. Moving down the lightened passageway, he wondered where the captured Sectoid leader was being held.

Young looked very tired when Johnson entered the office. "Colonel. Thank you for coming. Have a seat please". Sitting on the same chair of their last meeting, he paused for a second before setting down. The hybrid smiled. "Still afraid that I will mind-control you Colonel?" Johnson jerked backwards but he controlled the reaction immediately. "Bad joke Doctor". The hybrid raised his arms and apologized. "Sorry. But I don't know how you will react to what I'm going to tell you concerning the captured alien".

"Are Robinson's people done with him?" As soon as their initial investigations had revealed how the Sectoid could be more securely contained, the intelligence personnel had moved forwards to perform their own interrogations. The results had merely confirmed the existence of the alien base on Mars, although they had been unable to retrieve any further information concerning its location or the general alien plans. "They are. In fact..." he brought up his wrist and looked at his watch. "…our guest has left us permanently fifteen minutes ago since we have extracted everything we could from him".

"And that includes the mind control research". The whole matter had thrown shakes through X-Com. No one was expecting that humans could be able to use the Psionic powers that certain Sectoids had demonstrated. Young had stated that to his knowledge it would be impossible. However after they had analyzed the information that the retrieved scientist at the New Mexico had left behind or told to Markovitch it showed that humans could do it. 

"We were lucky to have captured Attila, as the late Dr. Finkel called him. Otherwise the findings he left behind would be nothing more that theoretical speculation and almost impossible to believe or even to prove". It was exactly what Johnson feared. The whole matter would be one of the most disturbing things ever discovered, leading to worldwide fears of manipulation and control. Images of Hitler and Nazi Germany went through his head, only this time a better method of mass control seemed to have been developed.

Young looked stressed with his shoulders sagged. "I share your feelings Colonel: this is something that will probably change our world when its secrets are revealed. However, for now I propose that we consider on how we can use it against the aliens. And let the future generations decide if we did the right thing on uncovering this. But there's a factor that will prevent and control its application".

"I can't possibly imagine what it might be Doctor, since I feel that its application for harmful proposes will only be dependent on the will of the one who decides to use it. But tell me". 

"I've tested over fifty persons right now to determine their level of Psionic strength, a biological indicator that shows the level of resistance or ability to use the powers. They all where selected randomly from the base personnel and without knowing what was it for. Based on the results I've come up with a zero to one hundred scale, the maximum reading that I've encountered. For you to have an idea of the scale, the captured Sectoid had a value of forty". The number didn't seem too big for Johnson. "And the humans?"

"In average they score a twenty, with some notable exceptions. In some cases it's simply zero, while in Captain Markovitch's case she's over ninety". That surprised and scared Johnson. "She can read the minds of anyone? Control people?"

The scientist realized the reason for his apprehension. "Not exactly Colonel. I realize your preoccupations. I do listen to base rumor". He smiled. "However, you would be able to feel if she tried to fool you. The person using these powers can read and even perceive the other person's sensations. He can encourage some feelings present or, on its full power, even take full control of his target. But the more the subject is forced to do something against his will the more he will suffer psychological damage". Johnson started laughing. "So in either case I'm nuts for being in love with her. I had already figured that one out". 

"Women _do_ exert some sort of control over men in any case". Young shared his grin but after a moment his expression turned serious. "However, you might not like to hear the rest". Johnson stopped and looked at him. "What else have you found?"

"I've included some of _us_ in the same tests also without them knowing the reasons why. They have all came up in the range of sixty". That made Johnson completely change his mood and he started to get up from the chair. "Colonel please sit down!" He raised his arms with his arms wide open. "I had to do it Colonel. And you needed to know also so that you can judge if we are still trustworthy or not".

Johnson shook his head. "I want to be tested". The scientist shook his head in agreement. "The same to all base commanders, combat troops and security personnel also. And the results should be revealed to everyone so that each one knows with what he can count on". 

"I've already notified Dr. Chereveux about the results of the research. I'm sure he and Commander Illyuschenko will think the same way".

"Good". Johnson tried to control his briefing. "Doctor?" The scientist lowered his hands. "Thank you for your effort and sorry if I offended you". 

"No harm done Colonel. I started to suspect, since the Sectoids seemed to have reason of their own for leaving us hybrids in the dark about the psionics. I considered if I should do it for some time until I decided that it would be better if you knew about it than leaving it to one of us discovering by accident. And to further assure you, Psi energy leaves a trace behind in one' brain that can be checked to see if the person has been tampered with".

"Good to hear". The scientist paused for one second and Johnson frowned. "Anything else that I should know about?" Passing his hand through his chin, Young contorted his mouth before answering. "Are you a religious man Colonel?" Johnson found the question bizarre. "Not really. Why?"

"There are some extremely controversial conclusions that can be taken from all this research. As I ran the tests I also checked a number of mammals for psi levels, such as pigs, dogs, cats and monkeys. They all turned to zero and the same happened to the Snakemen and Floaters we have locked in the containment area. They can be controlled since psi energy acts upon the sensations felt by any living being. However, this power only occurs on humans, Sectoids and hybrids". The whole thing didn't make any sense to Johnson. "What does it has to do with religion?"

"The preliminary results of the Human Genome have been made available to X-Com. It's propose is to type the entire group of genes that define man. I've compared it with some of the genotyping we've made out of the aliens and the hybrids. Again you, me and the Sectoids share about a thousand genes, a smaller number if compared to the overall but still meaning that it can't be a coincidence".

"I don't understand. We belong to the same species?"

"No. Too many different genes. But you and I share genes that don't exist on Earth. The only way that they can have come here is because the aliens interfered on mankind's evolution, most likely when you were still primates".

"Jesus!" The world seemed as if it was about to change for Johnson. "He was wrong in some things also, Colonel". Looking above as contemplating the stars, he continued. "Now I don't think intelligent life developed on this planet by accident. Or that it was a coincidence that the alien activity started to increase to visible levels after World War II. When we blew the first atomic bomb they must have seen that we had become too intelligent and since then they decided to take care of their own animal farm and put things into order. Throw both God's creationism and Darwin's theory of evolution into the trash: we are here because the aliens made us".

March 15th, 2001

Mother One, Black Forest, Germany

After months of hard research Commander Illyuschenko and the officers of X-Com's European Command were now all gathered to see their newest device in the war against the aliens. The idea had sounded absurd at first to the Russian who refused to believe that they had broke into the extraterrestrials code and detect and listen to the alien's ships. Nevertheless he had demanded results before authorizing the construction of the first device and upon seeing them authorized the project.

A large new section of the base had been dug up to house the hyperwave detector. The whole concept had been developed from both the concepts of the UFO navigational system, discovered at Area 51 and the discovery of the tachyon particles made at Mother One. Apparently the aliens used tachyons for their UFOs to identify themselves and transmit information. The code-breakers had only been able to decipher a few parts of the code but they had figured out which information related to navigational data.

On one corner of the base a highly specialized liquid rested in a metal chamber large the size of a school bus. The material inside didn't actually consisted of a liquid, but something that the scientists were calling a new state of the matter. Illyuschenko couldn't remember the name of the state or the liquid inside but it didn't matter to him. The only thing that mattered was that as the tachyons transmitted by the Elerium engines moved through it special detectors built into the chamber would record their passage. And taking measure of certain variables they could determine the position of the UFO to the receiver as well as the tiny variations that contained the alien messages. Those changes would then be processed by a supercomputer that would translate them into human measures.

Looking at the board in front of him and leaning on the rail, Illyuschenko noticed that a UFO had been tracked over the Baltic. Another one was high-speed racing over Eastern Europe, too high and fast for even the Firestorms to intercept it. Turning to Colonel Paqua, the dark-haired French responsible for Air Operations, he shouted: "Time to engage the machine. Let's see what it tells us about these UFOs". The Colonel nodded and passed the order to the technicians operating the consoles.

At first the red dots moving over the map of Europe suffered no change but the color of the background turned from black into a gray, indicating the range of detection. It stretched in a circle that compassed the Azores Islands in the middle Atlantic to European Russia from west to east, with the middle portion of Libya and Egypt the Arctic Circle defining its southern and northern borders.

The two red dots that marked the UFO's positions were identified simply as "LRG SCT" and "LARGUFO, denoting a Large Scout and a craft of large size, its type still undetermined". Below the designations, boxed series of numbers gave information on their speed, altitude and bearing. However, a few seconds later the computer redefined the information based on the readings from the hyperwave detector. The first one still had the same ship tag but now underneath it read several more codes, indicating the race, mission and area of operations of the craft: MUTON/RTLIATN/EUROPE. The second on its turn had changed into SUPPLYS/SECTOID/SUPPLY/FEASIA.

"Bloody hell!" MacTaggert's voice came from behind Illyuschenko who found himself also aghast by the change. "Commander!" Paqua called from one the console that he was watching. "The first UFO is looking for us! The second is on a supply run for an alien base on Asia! This can't be right!" 

Dr Chevereux moved closer and said. "I will have them check the detector. It can be a glitch". Illyuschenko's grabbed his arm to stop him. "China. The aliens must have built a base there. Can we detect it?" Chevereux thought for one second. "Not using this system. However we can put a tachyon detector on board one of the Skyranger and, if the aliens are using Elerium to power the base, we can detect it and triangulate its position. It won't be much for accuracy but it will give us an idea of its location. The plane will have to came closer then".

"We'll use Stalingrad base's planes. Please start working on that immediately". As the scientist left he shouted. "Colonel Paqua, scramble a fighter before that scout pick us up to shoot it down". The French officer nodded. "And also alert Stalingrad about the supply ship. See if they can track its landing on their radars". As the Colonel turned to the console, he stood looking in astonishment at the board quiet. "Mon dieu!" Illyuschenko turned to look at the board. 

Where before only two enemy contacts were present, now the screen was blinking with six other targets that had been undetected by the base's radars. Two were increasing their altitude and speed and read: BATTLES/???????/INFLTRN/EUROPE. Another one was completely its entry in Earth's atmosphere, too high to be intercepted: SUPPLYS/SNAKMEN/ALIENB/STHAMER. And the fourth was proceeding the opposite direction, heading into the depths of space: TERRORS/???????/INFLTRN/EUROPE.

"Commander! We have an 'OVNI' on its way to South America to deliver supplies to the construction of an alien base. The other three 'OVNI's are on an infiltration mission and appear to be departing". 

"Paqua! What's the race inside these Battleships". The Colonel went back to the technician, pointing the finger at the console and firing up questions that the man operating it tried to respond as much as possible. After some threatening gestures to both the console and the operator, Paqua turned back to Illyuschenko. "Undetermined Commander. He says that our computer can't translate the race signal of these UFOs". 

"Paqua! Send one of our conventional fighters against the scout. Both Firestorms are going against one of those Battleships, you decide which but I want it brought down at all costs! MacTaggert! Get all of the platoons ready! We will bring all of them down to retrieve the wreckage of that Battleship". A few seconds later, the full military personnel complement was put into full alert, with the soldiers running to the armory while the pilots and support personnel got their craft ready. 

Thirty minutes later the aerial battle was over with mixed results. The scout had been easily brought down by the conventional fighters and had crashed in the North Sea, its remains sinking under the dark waters. But the Battleship had destroyed one of the attacking X-Com's Firestorms and had successfully exited the area afterwards. The X-Com pilots had hit the UFO with their Fusion Missiles, a weapon whose warhead consisted of Elerium surrounded by a reflective carbon coating to increase its destructive power. But it had been insufficient and as they approached into range of their plasma cannons, the UFO had retaliated, inflicting critical damage into one of the Firestorm and vaporizing the other out of the skies. Its pilot didn't even have time to eject the craft. 

Still standing at the monitor in front of him, Illyuschenko felt miserable. _What have you done you idiot? If you wanted to commit suicide why did you asked others to perform what you can't accomplish? Why didn't you order the second Firestorm to abort its attack with plasma cannons when the UFO had already shown to the first the power of its weapons? I should be court-martialed because of this and relieved of my position._

Paqua's voice interrupted his rumblings. "Commander, we almost did it. That UFO destroyed one of our craft but it paid hard for it. If our fighters had stayed into battle and scored more hits it would have been brought down. We need the Avenger sir". Opening his eyes again he turned his head and focused them on the officer. "What was the name of the pilot?"

The Colonel thought for one second. "Watts. He joined from the RAF almost one year ago after flying air-defense Tornados for years. His family was killed on the alien terrorist attack on Coventry". _Watts. Now a whole family has been destroyed. Watts. _"He was good sir. You have to take this to the Council to prove them our need for the Avenger. We have no defense against these Battleships otherwise".

Still speechless, Illyuschenko slowly nodded his head, his gaze looking lost in front of him. Paqua looked at him in apprehension but as he was about to speak Illyuschenko merely stated. "We need it". Turning around he walked towards the exit, without even dismissing Paqua. _We need to finish this once and for all. No more listening to the politics, they will never really understand what is going around here. We need to do all we must to finish this war before it's too late for the rest of us. No more conditioned decisions, no more remorse, only victory matters now. And the rest, I'll deal with it afterwards. _

__

André Galvão, 2002


	26. Defection

X-Com: The Unknown Menace

Chapter Twenty-Five –Defection

March 26th, 2001

Area 51, Nevada, US

Well, can you read my thoughts? Johnson was staring at Markovitch's face, resting on his left side with his head standing over one of his arms. They were both lying naked on his bed but she was on his back, shifting her gaze between him and the ceiling. After some seconds she noticed how he was looking at her and dropped her head to her right. "I know what you are thinking. You are thinking if I know what is going on your mind". 

His eyes opened wide with amazement and she laughed at his reaction, knowing that she had hit the mark. "Don't worry Erwin, I'm just teasing you. Everyone who has looked at me today probably made doing that same question to themselves".

He looked the other way and slowly exhaled. "Yeah. Well sorry for staring but I guess the rest of us that don't have that skill will take some time to get accustomed to the idea". He stroked her cheek. "You're just being human". She replied before locking her fingers into his. "Curiosity isn't wrong but it will take time before you stop looking at us as if we were freaks. I've talked to some of the others who also checked high on psionics and we also don't know what to think or do about the whole situation".

"Yeah, I guess you're right". He decided to change the subject. "How did it go today at the lab?" She looked at her left arm and checked the electrodes implanted on her skin halfway between her wrist and her elbow. Feeling tempted to scratch on them; she tried to control the impulse knowing that she might start a rash on the spot. "I'm still uncomfortable about this things stuck in me. Dr. Young says they are needed to connect the psionics amplifier to my nerve system but I wished that there were no need for them. 

He started to caress her arm but she moved it away. "Don't. They tickle. I prefer not to remember that I'm wearing them". Nodding, Johnson set his head down on the pillow. "Shall we get some sleep now?" 

The tone on his voice made her preoccupied with him. She had sensed that something was wrong with him from ever since he had talked to Vaughn. First she had thought that it might had something to do with the discovery of her Psionic skills but noticing how he had been acting in the previous week, she wasn't sure anymore. There was something that he wasn't telling her and the mere thought of it was gnawing at her. It was as suddenly his confidence had been brought down. Or it could just be her nightmares that were troubling her and making her project her own loss of self-confidence into others.

She remembered the words of Dr. Young as she had started to train with the device that had been originally developed by the rescued scientist at New Mexico. "More than control, Psionics is a projection of your own self into the others. The more you are able to do so, the more successful you will be into forcing your will into others". She wondered if she wasn't doing it also with Johnson unconsciously, allowing her own fears to grow into him. After all, Dr. Young had also told them that the more they practiced the more proficient they would become into their use. Like riding a bicycle or performing any task, training was one of the essential aspects of them. 

Feeling coldness growing inside of her, she closed her eyes and tried to control it but she failed. Images of a dark room, where something was lurking on the darkness, an irresistible attraction that also made her fearful invaded her. She felt completely naked inside, sending shivers down her spine, as if a million alien eyes were watching her in the shadows. Feeling her head going dizzy, the room slowly changed and the presence was suddenly closer, almost touching her body, as if she was inside a dark pool of a murky substance that took all the strength away from her. Almost jumping on the bed, she screamed loud. "No!"

Johnson recoiled from her in surprise. "Gosh! What's the matter? You don't want to sleep?" The presence and warmness of his body started to flow again through her senses, taking away the last residues of her vision. Moving closer to him, she replied. "Sorry it's just that….." She came at a loss of words. "I can't explain". Feeling that she was shaking he moved to closer to her and put the blankets on top of both. "You're freezing". 

"Yeah and I feel that way also inside". Using his hand to lift her cheek he kissed her on the lips. "I'm here. Don't worry about the nightmares. They are only bad dreams". His words struck something inside her. "But that's the point Erwin. More and more I feel that they are real!"

"Hey, everybody has had nightmares with one or two aliens before. I had also my share of being chased by Chrysallids without any weapons. They are normal".

"But that it Erwin! With one or two aliens! Not with all of them!" Johnson got himself up until he was seated on the bed. "All of them? What do you mean?"

"Sometimes I fell a presence as if something is watching over me, controlling what I do or trying to. It scares the hell out of me because I remember when the alien back at New Mexico tried to mind control me. But at the same time it's less intense, as if it is far away". He started to look seriously at her. "Are you sure of what you're saying"

"Yes…no dammit! I keep thinking that I'm becoming paranoid, I'm afraid that I might be using these damn psionics to see aliens everywhere. Like that scientist back at New Mexico. He told me about this great alien presence while we're alone but I juts thought that he had gone wacko after spending all of those years imprisoned by the aliens".

"Why haven't you told me this before?"

Uncertainty started to grasp at her. "I don't know. I don't know how you would react or anyone else on this base if I told them of these dreams. I suspect that the base shrink must already think that I have a couple of screws lose inside my head". Surprisingly to her the vulnerability started to disappear as soon as the last words came out from her mouth.

Looking back at him, she noticed that he had gone into some deep thinking but, on contrary to what she expected, the matter seemed to be growing strength into him. "Sheila, what if I tell you that you might be right?" Her eyes opened wide with wonder. "What do you mean?" 

"I can't explain and even if I could I probably couldn't tell you. Not right now at least. But what you said made sense to me. And I trust that what you are saying is right but don't discuss it with anyone else besides me at the moment, OK?"

The tips of her lips moved upward in a small grin as she felt overwhelmed with a feeling of comprehension and joy that came unexpected. "You really trust me on this?"

He moved closer to kiss her and replied. "As long as you trust that I love you". 

  
March 28th, 2001

Manhattan, New York City, US

Officers Smith and Wallis of the New York Police Department had just pulled up their squad car into a deserted Wall Street whose sidewalks and tall buildings were only lit up by the streetlights. They had been assigned to the graveyard shift and they still had four hours left before they could pack things up and head back to their precinct. The patrol car cruised gently and slow down the main street of NY's financial district. Wallis, a policeman that looked barely out of high school, with a clean face and red hair was driving and trying to get focused on his job while Smith rode shotgun and yawned most of the time. The older officer had a large but trimmed mustache and his head was already starting to show signs of baldness.

"What's that?" Wallis called as he lowered the speed of the car and pointed towards a figure that was standing still away from them on the opposite side of the street. Smith didn't even barely bothered to watch. "Is he doing something illegal?"

"He's pointing something at the Stock Exchange building". Looking back at the rookie freshly graduated from the Academy, Smith decided that Wallis still needed to learn a lot of things about patrols, specially on how not to bother his partner with stupid things. "Pointing something?" 

"Yeah, just look". Smith turned his face to the figure as they approached him. It seemed more to be one of the homeless, with a blanket placed over his head. Probably he was just on a drunken stupor and the thing was nothing more than a bottle of booze. "You mean that fella there? Don't they teach you out on the Academy to distinguish between real criminals from homeless?" The patronizing tone made Wallis furious but he kept it to himself and drove away from the figure. 

As they kept driving he took a look at the rear mirror and what he saw made him hit the breaks, sending Smith's face crashing down the glove compartment. Getting back on his seat he rubbed the side of his head that was hurting and demanded. "What was that about you idiot?!"

"There's a violet light in the middle of the street behind us!" That's it. Smith decided that the kid needed one hell of a lecture from the Captain. Still keeping his eyes on the mirror he suddenly warned. "There's a large thing standing on the middle of the street!" Smith also decided that he had been paying too much attention to the briefing that had been made the month before about the UFOs. "Wallis, are you just stupid or are have you been drinking from the same bottle as the bum?"

"Just look!" The sound of his voice made Smith wonder what was going on. Turning his body, his vision came upon the middle of Wall Street. But instead of being deserted like it usually was at this time of the night he found a large thing on the middle of it of a dark color. "What is that!?" Looking closely he saw that it occupied all of the road and that it was hovering five foot above the ground. From the distance it looked saucer shaped but he couldn't make any more features on it.

Suddenly a noise started to be heard, coming from the direction of the saucer and sounding like a nest of angry bees. Smith reached for the radio but discovered that it wasn't working. At the same time Wallis shouted while turning several times the keys on the ignition: "The car is dead. It won't start!"

The pitch of the sound increased until Smith and Wallis had to put his hands to his ears. His eardrums seemed as if they were about to rupture when finally a blue light beam emerged from the craft and hit the closest building. The high pitch noise stopped all of the sudden but it was quickly replaced by the crack of lightning that was coming from the object. Swirling through the air, the rays of electricity divided themselves and hit all of the area surrounding the craft, exploding traffic lights and lamp poles and carving blackened lines on the fronts of the buildings. One of the lightning beams suddenly hit the back of the police car and both officers immediately ducked and closed their eyes. 

A few seconds later, as they opened them back again they found that the thing was gone. But it had left its mark since Wall Street was now completely covered with darkness. Wallis and Smith looked at one another but before anyone said anything the radio went active, filled with request calls. 

March 30th, 2001

Virginia, US

"And on today's news, President Vaughn is scheduled to attend to a joint session of Congress tomorrow regarding the recent incident on NY's Stock Exchange that led to its total incapacitation. A Treasury Department spokesman has stated today that the collapse of the transaction equipment and records that occurred on strange circumstances two nights ago 'cannot be attributed to a single computer failure because of the safeguards built into the system'. Later on, the Pentagon has admitted that it had tracked a craft of unknown origin over Manhattan, as the initial reports of witnesses on the area claimed but it was premature to link it to the incident. However the cause, its effects are already starting to affect the economy: a record number of bankruptcy suits have been filed into courts according to today's edition of the _Wall Street Journal_. The paper, whose computer system has also suffered a severe malfunction, cites inside sources from a number of companies such as…"

Williams slowly breathed and decided not to pay any more attention to his car radio. He switched it off and tried to think of something else but the whole matter had been on his mind from ever since yesterday. It all pointed that the aliens were the responsible for the whole case but he was off the case now. And he couldn't know more about the situation than by what was being leaked into the press, since the people he knew to be investigating the matter would simply not pick up the phone or refuse to comment the situation with them.

Keeping his eyes on the freeway, he checked his watch and saw that he would get late for dinner again. The rush hour was already gone and with it most of the commuter traffic that left Washington into the suburbs around. This part of the highway had three lanes and he was on the right one waiting for his exit to appear. The Sun had already set and there was a light rain that was covering the road.

The car behind him flickered its high beams to signal that it would pass him but he barely took notice since there was more than enough space on the highway who was now clear of vehicles. As the other car pulled alongside him he decided at its direction to check the driver out of curiosity.

The black sedan moved slowly until he saw the passenger's window. Looking from the corner of his eyes, Williams noticed that it was open, which struck him as bizarre because of the rain that was falling. Turning his head, he saw a man dressed in a black suit, white shirt and tie also black that seemed to be looking back at him although with the dark glasses he was wearing he couldn't tell. That was even more strange since it was already night but as he looked again his heart stopped as he noticed the muzzle of a gun coming out from other car's window. 

March 31st, 2001

Swiss government facility outside Geneve, Switzerland

The meeting of the Council of Funding Nations had already started the worst way possible. Instead of the fourteen nations that had been present on the last reunion, now the chair reserved for the Italian representative was empty. Contacted by the Secretary-General the night before, the response of Italy's Prime Minister had been that they had decided to leave X-Com.

The news had thrown the capitals of the other European nations in turmoil as the governments that were still a part of X-Com were trying to deal with the new crisis. From what Illyuschenko had heard and from the detection of the Battleships over Europe a couple of weeks ago, it seemed that Italy had just joined the alien's side. There was already a lot of talk by the UK, France, Germany and Spain to consider taking measures against Italy for their treason but no one was sure of what to do. The European Union had also been put at stake by what had just happened. The EU was also starting to suffer the effects of the Stock Market crash on NY provoked by the loss of all the transaction data. Everyone was already cringing from its side effects and although there was no direct proof of it yet, the overfly made in that night by the UFO of New York could well mean that the aliens had something to do with the matter. But if Italy also decided to leave the EU or if the other nations applied any pressure on the country, it would most likely accentuate the economic and financial crisis that was starting to be felt all over the world.

Although Illyuschenko was worried, he also didn't try to pay to it much attention. The contributions from each individual country to X-Com would surely drop, but the most of his finance was coming from other means so he would just have to increase the number of laser weapons available to the black market. And while they couldn't overfly Italy's airspace anymore, the Firestorms allowed that any UFO that tried to land there would be shot down well before it reached Italy's borders.

He felt the hand of Colonel Robinson touching him and he turned his head towards him as they both moved back inside after the recess. "What's the matter?"

The X-Com's intelligence officer's gaze flickered for a second to the assembly of councilmen in front of them before replying. "The US is now the next speaker on the list". Illyuschenko shrugged his shoulders. "They will probably just prove more of their evidence regarding the NY incident. There was nothing that we could have done". 

"Maybe, but I've sent you the reports of what Johnson told me about their meeting. They could also push for more control of X-Com and in the current situation their request will distract this meeting from more pressing matters". Illyuschenko's head nodded in reluctance. "I know. The Avenger project has already suffered too much criticism but it has to go on no matter what the cost. Is everything set with the Odyssey?"

"Dr. Mantell is personally overseeing the preparations back at Florida. I pray that this should work". Illyuschenko looked at him. "I did not imagine you to rely on praying". Robinson's blank face almost seemed as if he was smiling but, after a second he turned his attention to the start of the meeting.

After the formal introductory steps were taken for the reunion of the Council to restart, the US councilman asked for the word and Bomaka conceded it. As he lift himself from his seat and asked for the data that he had brought to be shown, Illyuschenko rotated his chair backwards to see what the big fuss was all about. The electronic screen behind them flashed and resolved into a satellite picture.

The image showed an airfield, with twin runways parallel one to another, the black concrete standing against the lighter terrain. The US councilman started to speak: "This is a picture taken by our reconnaissance satellites of the Trang Hao airbase in China. Following the discovery of the alien base made on New Mexico and the failure of X-Com to previously notify my government about the finding, we started to make surveillance runs of the countries known to be associated with the aliens. And we found this".

One of the areas on the picture enlarged itself until it came to an image about its real size. It was one of the medium scout types used by the aliens, resting in the tarmac of the airbase. And close to it two figures seemed to be engaged in conversation. Looking closer Illyuschenko didn't know if to feel marveled at the resolution of the satellite or to be worried. A human pilot wearing a helmet could be seen, but the other figure was a Sectoid, its bulging head clearly making it distinguishable. After some seconds the image was removed and replace by another one, of a Supply Ship parked on the runway. 

Illyuschenko moved closer to Robinson and spoke in a whisper. "The base we suspected". Robinson nodded. "I'm more worried about that pilot there". 

"Apparently China has decided to allow the aliens access to their bases". The American councilman started. "We find this extremely disturbing. God only knows what they might be doing over there, but we are concerned more about this". The view of the airbase now settled himself upon a Large Scout. The picture had been taken this time from a more oblique position, revealing one of the sides of the craft instead of only proving a view from the top. In one of its arms it displayed Chinese characters and one another a red star in the center of a red rectangle, all defined in gold.

"This is a threat gentlemen. Our radar tracks of the UFO in New York that we suspect was responsible for the Stock Market Exchange seems to have never left Earth's atmosphere. If that's so, then its most likely point of origin is from this airbase". A drop of murmurs went through the room. Illyuschenko asked to speak and Bomaka nodded to himself, trying to control the noise.

"Mr. Councilman, you have no proof of that. You are just guessing!" The American replied. "Really Commander? In that case can X-Com show us their own evidence? Have you detected the craft on your own radars? If so, why didn't you acted?" Illyuschenko growled, wishing that the hyperwave detector at Area 51 had gone operational sooner. "No. We had no warning also". 

"Are you sure of that Commander? And please tell me how you also missed spotting that alien base, when China was one of the most likely candidates to house such a facility. Or is it that you just decide to spy on the countries present on this Council?"

Robinson got from his chair to prevent Illyuschenko's sure outburst. "Mr. Councilman, we had suspicions of its existence but we hadn't been able to effectively pin it. If we had had access to your satellites…:"

He lifted one finger. "Ah yes, access. Even if you had access with them, what would have you done, Colonel, to act upon this information? Let me tell you: nothing!"

Restraining himself, Illyuschenko looked at Bomaka who understood the request and tried to defuse the situation. "Mr. Councilman, X-Com's performance will never be one hundred percent satisfactory to everyone. They would have detected this later for sure…"

"Mr. Secretary-General, from what I've seen for my own eyes and for what I've read on the records of all the sessions, X-Com's performance can quite falter, can't it? I concede that they have achieved some victories but it seems to me that they are only able to react to the aliens and not develop a strategy to force the aliens instead to react to us". Bomaka nodded, thinking that the other man had stopped his tirade. "Your protest is recorded, Mr. Councilman". 

"Yes, well the US wishes to make a final announcement, in the light of all of this. Our monthly review of the X-Com project this month has shown it to be highly unsatisfactory. And if the rumors about Italy turn out to be truth, the defection of that country only reinforces our position on this matter. X-Com should be able to protect us against these subversion threats but, instead there are a number of factors that plague it with chronic instability. Furthermore, it has clearly decided to stick to a wrong strategy, one that now has allowed for the global economy to be greatly hurt and which goes against the US's interests. China's access to alien technology shouldn't be taken lightly".

"What is your point?" Singh, the Indian ambassador had rose from his chair, tired of the US rumbling. "We are all being affected by this, not only the US so please move on". The other man paused for a moment and smiled. "I was just getting there. According to President's Vaughn decision, the US will abandon the X-Com project from today and pursue a different strategy regarding the alien situation, one who also deals with the countries that are supporting the aliens on Earth. 

This message is also being relayed to your governments through our ambassadors spread out through the world. My country wishes also to make clear that we are not in any sort of negotiations with the Sectoid Hierarchy at the moment nor are we planning to in the future. Finally we are inviting all the nations here on this council and a number of selected others to join us on this effort to effectively deal with the menace".

The room stood in silence for a second as the gravity of his words set upon all the men and women present. It then erupted in a full discussion as some delegates shouted out accusations at the US councilman while others kept quiet, watching them and reflecting on what had just been said. Illyuschenko also got up from his chair and started to move towards the councilman but Bomaka and Robinson stopped him on his way.

"There is no point in that" Robinson voice was cold. "We have more important things to attend to before any attempt to solve this confusion". Bomaka and Illyuschenko both looked at Robinson who explained. "We need to know where Colonel Johnson stands in the middle of all of this".

Illyuschenko looked at him. "X-Com is about to fall apart, in case you haven't noticed. Why is that the most important thing right now?"

"The Ufopedia research data and the facilities back at Nevada. If the US regains possession of those we are as good as dead but if we maintain them the other countries will think twice before following them". 

The Pentagon, Washington D.C., US

Johnson had chosen to wear his old US uniform so that his presence in the Pentagon would pass unnoticed. He had pinned of the military decorations that had been attributed to him over a decade long of conflicts: the Silver Star won in Iraq, the Distinguished Service Cross of Panama and his Purple Hearts, issued after injuries taken in Bosnia while on X-Com's service. But he had removed his former unit patch from his left shoulder and had it replaced by the one depicting a Wolverine worn by the members of First Company, X-Com's North America Command. 

As he walked inside General Thompson's office, the four-star general was on his feet and he saluted him. Returning the salute, Thompson then heartily took his hand on a shake and asked him to take off his service cap and sit down in two comfortable sofas in one corner of the room. As they did, an aide came by and offered them cigars, which Johnson politely refused. Thompson took out one and before he cut the end and lit it up he commented. "I know these things are terrible for you but in certain occasions you simply can't dispense them, if you don't mind".

Johnson signaled him to move forward and lit it up. "Please General". The higher officer took a number of deep breaths from it and looked at the cigar afterwards with satisfaction. Johnson waited for a moment, before speaking. "General, if I might ask, why have I been asked to come here? President Vaughn's request only mentioned something of an award, although it didn't specify which and I'm not sure…."

"Relax Johnson". He put down the cigar on a crystal ashtray. "President Vaughn asked me to present his apologies but he wasn't able to come here because of an unexpected business for him to attend as urgently as possible.

But as for the reason for you being here, let's just say that he thinks that there might have been some difficulties lately between you and him. He wishes to clear all things up so that you can keep on doing the terrific job you have performed until now, defending our country of the aliens". 

Nodding his head, Johnson replied. "I see. Well it's my wish also that things could be better between my force and the US leadership".

Thompson extended a hand making him stop. "They will, don't worry". Reaching for his uniform's inside pocket he dug out a white envelope. "Let's stop talking and go to what brought you here shall we?" Pointing it out at him, Johnson reached and grabbed it.

Examining it, he saw that it was locked and had the presidential seal on its face. Looking back at Thompson, the General nodded to him with an exuberant face. "Open it up. You've damn earned it".

Finding an open space along the seam of the envelope, he put his index finger and flipped it open, breaking the seal. Looking inside, he saw a paper and some insignia on the bottom. He fished both of them out and looked at the pins: they were brigadier general's stars, gleaming in silver and five-pointed. Johnson looked back at Thompson who simply told him to read the paper.

Scanning through his contents, the document was is promotion as a brigadier general, in recognition of his efforts in the current conflict and of his leadership capabilities. It also appointed him a combat command, consisting of the 11th Air Assault Division, US Army. Johnson became surprised, as he had never heard of that unit but the bigger shock when was when he saw the home base of the division: Area 51, Nevada. The paper ended with Vaughn's signature.

Looking back at the paper on his right hand and the insignia on his left, he didn't know what to do. Thompson got up and extended his hand to him, saying: "Congratulations General".

Johnson didn't reach for his hand. He merely stood there still seated and asked: "I'm not understanding the meaning of all of this, sir". Thompson feigned a reaction of surprise but he quickly covered it. "Of course you aren't. Well it's President Vaughn's way of welcoming you back to us". A dreadful feeling come over Johnson's mind. "What do you mean sir? I'm still on X-Com".

Thompson smiled. "Not anymore general. Our councilman by now must have already announced the decision on X-Com's Council: as of today, the US is no longer a participant in X-Com. We now will fight the aliens on our own". 

Blinking his eyes, Johnson couldn't believe the words that he had just heard. "Excuse me General? He can't just do that".

"Well, he did and to tell you the truth I had my reservations against X-Com right from the beginning. But as you recall, I strongly supported your nomination for it, knowing that you would do a great job. And now we want you to continue that work, only this time we are placing you a bigger responsibility". He winked at Johnson. "The word is that the President might afterwards create a new combat command, with forces taken from all the services to deal with the alien situation. In that case we will sure need a competent general to lead it, which probably means that you will be one of the youngest two-star general ever. But don't worry about that for now, because first we want you to raise and train a full division to fight the aliens and their allies using the latest technology and tactics". That last part made Johnson decide his mind. "Latest technology and tactics?"

"Why yes. You have years of experience on how to use the laser and plasma weapons to their best. We need someone that can fully understand how to use the weapons stored at Area 51 and Pollock".

Putting the envelope down on the table in front of him, Johnson got up. "I'm sorry general but please tell the President that I will have to refuse his offer. And please tell him also that I won't surrender either Area 51 or Pollock back to US control". Thompson's mood quickly turned from cordiality to one more of concern. "General, I will ignore that. This is a request but also an order". 

"My position remains. Area 51 and Pollock belong to the UN, not the US and I follow orders from Commander Illyuschenko now. If my country decides to leave X-Com then I will regret that decision but I won't join it on your folly". 

"Johnson, you can't do that. Those bases are ours and this is not an offer. The President, your Commander in Chief is giving you a direct order. Don't be a fool and follow it". Thompson's tone had gone more threatening. "His orders have no effect over me. And even if they did I most likely would have to refuse them somewhere in the future. I will not fight any other human beings on this war. That is pure madness and God knows where it might lead us to".

He started to turn to leave but Thompson's voice made him stop. "You're not going anywhere Colonel". Making a hand sign, a quartet of armored military police entered the room. "Take the Colonel into custody". 

Johnson looked at the men then back at Thompson. "You can't do this. You have no jurisdiction over me under military law!" One of the MPs drew his sidearm and armed it. Seizing the opposition he decided that it would be foolish to try anything. Even if he managed to pass through this group there would be more security outside. 

Conceding defeat, he didn't offer any resistance as they approached and cuffed him. "Now we have Colonel. And I'm sorry to say but I will doubt if the court martial will pay any attention to your arguments. After all, these are times of wars and they usually are not condescend with deserters and officers who neglect their responsibilities and the chain of command". Pushing him, they brought him out of Thompson's office, who reached for a phone. 

Area 51, Nevada, US

"What is going on?" Markovitch's head was still fuzzy from being awake early on the morning and from a swing that a Muton had given to her helmet the day before. Her platoon was supposed to be free of duty for today but Patterson had ordered her presence in the Colonel's office.

Also moving down the corridor, Captain Jerrel had a scruffy appearance with his beard grown. The man hadn't had time to shave and the jumpsuit he was wearing was all rumpled. "I dunno. Isn't the Colonel supposed to be in Washington? Why are we meeting at his office?"

Seeing that he was in dark the same as her, she shook her head and opened the door. Majors' Patterson and Prescott were already inside, standing together with Captain Cruz, who had just been recently promoted to command Fourth Platoon. "Major, what is going on?" She demanded.

"Sit all Captain. Colonel Jackson has ordered me to assemble all of you here for an announcement".

"Jackson? What does he want? And where is the Colonel?" Her tone seemed to be annoying Patterson. "I don't know. But the Colonel Jackson said that it concerns him". Markovitch gave him a look of bewilderment but she decided to sit down in one of the chairs. Patterson then turned on the communications screen on Johnson's desk, who flicked on with the sign of X-Com. After some seconds Jackson appeared on the screen.

"Good morning all. I have important orders regarding the base. About an hour ago I received orders from National Command Authority, through the Secretary of Defense. According to Executive Order 72/02 the US has now left X-Com. The same order states that Colonel Johnson has been relieved of command of Area 51. It also places me over command of all the US military personnel and equipment that were assigned to X-Com. We are still to continue the fighting against the aliens and any Earth country allied with them but now we will be assigned to a newly created US combat unit". 

The five officers looked at the screen in disbelief. Markovitch cut in immediately. "What? Where is Johnson?"

"Colonel Johnson has been placed into custody following charges of disobeying a direct, superior order. He is presently at Washington and behind transported to a military prison where he will remain until he's presented to a court martial". Markovitch wanted to ask what the hell was going on but Jackson started again to speak commands. "Major Patterson!" Following his training the other officer nearly jumped into attention. "Yes sir!"

"For now you will be the temporary commander of Area 51. My orders are as follows: 

All radio and hyperwave communications with X-Com are to be ceased immediately. The base's research facilities and databanks containing the Ufopedia are now classified. You will deploy a security force to protect them and no one is even allowed to come near them without my personal permission. Access to the base armory and Elerium depot is also to be restricted to the security personnel. All aircraft is to be grounded and no flights with the outside are allowed. Finally, all non-US combat personnel and civilians are to be restrained to their quarters. Failure to comply with any of these orders will be considered an act of treason and the offenders are to be placed into custody. Do all of you understand and acknowledge this?"

The assembled officers complied but Markovitch affirmative was barely heard. "Good. Colonel Johnson made a mistake that he will regret for the rest of his life. Just play smart and follow your orders and pretty soon we will resume the fighting. Colonel Jackson". The five officers stood for a while looking at the blank monitor until they left the room without speaking a word. 

Military Penitentiary, Maryland, US

The prison guards had for long put the lights out but Johnson hadn't even bothered to try to sleep. He was seated on the bed of his prison cell, a stone rectangle standing on the ground against one of the walls and covered which a mattress blankets. To his left a small grated window provided him with a glimpse of the outside but it would provide no escape. Its bars were of thick solid steel and his cell was located on the fifth floor, meaning that he would at least break his legs if he tried to jump to the patio below. The other contents of his cell were a toilet placed in a square of concrete in one of the corners and a sink right beside it.

Hearing the footsteps of one of the military guards passing by, he looked at the door to his right. It was also made of solid steel and it had two openings, one at the level of the eyes and another at the waist, but they were closed so he couldn't see the MP walking down the corridor.

__

Well, everything is really fucked-up now. Raising his legs, he put his head on the top of his knees and stood there thinking. _I sure hope that Vaughn didn't manage to get his hands on Area 51. But why shouldn't he? I wonder if X-Com even still exists anymore now that we are out of it. At least it would be better if we had access to the secrets of X-Com: Sheila and the others could continue the fighting in even terms with the aliens. _The memories of her came down on him and he grimaced. _I guess that this is goodbye for both of us also. I'll be facing the firing squad or the gallows when they finish the trial. Either that or a life sentence in a federal penitentiary. _Recollections of Mars and the information that only he and the other top X-Com commanders knew came to him. _Maybe it doesn't matter, 'cause if we discovered is all right, there's hardly any hope of defeating the aliens besides going to Mars. I might be as well dead if we fail to defeat the aliens than to fall to their hands._

The despair threatened to overcome him and he got up from his position, trying to make out a way of all of this. He started pacing on the confines of his cell in a circle. On the outside corridor he heard the boots of the MPs taking yet another stroll. He tried to ignore them as he concentrated on his thinking. _If X-Com really is dead than there's no point in maintaining the information I know all for myself. I need to tell the others about it, probably I could even reveal it to the Joint Chiefs and Vaughn so that they try to make the effort. Probably that's the only thing left for me to do although I doubt it will make any good since they all seem so determined in defeating the aliens here first on Earth._

Moving to the window he looked outside. The whole prison complex seemed deserted, with no guards moving outside. The patio and the twin fences in front of him were covered on white light but there was nothing else. _Yeah right. Vaughn will just tell me to piss off and send me back to here. _Looking above to the few stars on the sparsely clouded night sky he wondered if he could see Mars. He knew that it had a reddish glow and that it would spark an uneven light but after some seconds he quitted. _Doesn't really matter. I should get some sleep instead of wondering._

April 1st, 2001

Geneve, Switzerland

A sense of gloom was present on the room where Bomaka, Robinson and Illyuschenko were meeting. The UN's Secretary General had just entered the division and he looked extremely tired. "What's the count?" Illyuschenko asked without a delay.

"Bad. Most of the Europeans are willing to back the US's position. The French government is calling for them to organize their own fighting but with the defection of Italy they have became deeply divided. The UK supports joining the US's war effort and Spain and Germany seem that they will just follow whomever is in charge. The rest of the other nations are more or less divided the same way. Some, as Brazil and Australia have stated their intentions of joining the US. Japan has given some indications that it will also remain on the fight but that they will pursue their own policy. India and Egypt are clearly hostile but I doubt if there's much that they can do by their own". 

Illyuschenko nodded. "I've just talked to Larianov on the phone. My country is too weakened also to make any sort of independent effort. He is also very concerned about the new information brought about China and will support the US although he isn't happy about it".

Bomaka's showed defeat. "They have set the meeting for the afternoon, in no doubt because they will want to split the spoils between themselves first. X-Com is dead". Slamming his hands on his hips, Illyuschenko's face burned red with rage. "This can't be! There has to be something else we can do!" He looked at Robinson who simply spoke as in matter of fact. "I've been trying to get in contact with Area 51 for hours. They won't respond to any of my hails or from Mother One".

"I don't believe that Johnson is a part of this!" Robinson concurred but added. "Even if he isn't, I think it's clear to say by now that he has been removed of the general picture. Even if he's still in charge, I doubt that there's anything that he can. The same goes for the Ufopedia: if I had access to my personnel I could tell them to clean the system of the files but this blackout on communications prevents that we take that measure".

"Making us lose the only bargaining chip we had. In a few hours when the rest of the other countries know about the US' access to the research data they will all join since they can't afford to be left out of the information". Bomaka concluded. "Most likely they will all decide to split the research between all of them".

"The idiots will be just burying themselves. Dr. Chevereux told me that if the research team members and facilities stop to collaborate as closely as they have been that the current investigations will suffer major setbacks. And what about the factories at Complex YY-18? Even if Japan gains access of them they won't have either the materials or the Elerium to supply it".

Bomaka shrugged. "We can try to make a point of all of that tomorrow but frankly…". A knock on the door interrupted him.

Federal Penitentary, Maryland, US

Johnson had been trying to get some sleep for two hours but his anxiety and hopelessness wouldn't allow him. He was constantly thinking of his life, of what he had achieved and of the many things that he now wouldn't be able to. _I wonder if Sheila and me actually managed to have children how they would turn out? That would be something to see actually, to hear a kid calling her mommy_. He put that on the list of things that were now impossible even if the war would end.

Again he heard the sound of the MP' s thick boots as the soldier moved outside They had taken his clock away from him but he had determined that they passed every fifteen minutes. _Maybe Vaughn told the commanding officer of this facility how important I am or either it's just normal proceedings. At least it distracts me from once in a while. _

A different sound made him open his eyes, of something large and soft that had just hit the ground on the corridor while the rhymed clicking of the boots stopped. Raising himself from the bed in curiosity he approached the door but he couldn't hear anything more coming from the corridor. He wished that the door wasn't completely closed so that he could see so he pressed his ear against it.

Another sound of someone walking on the passageway was heard but only this time the noise was of something heavy and metallic making its way. He thought the sound was familiar as it approached the door. A short rasp on the door made him pull his head out from the contact of the metal. "Colonel!" A soft voice came from the other side. "Are you there?"

He immediately recognized the voice. "Hopkins!?" 

"Please stand away from the door sir". He did and waited, watching as the area around the lock started to glow in red as something outside cut through the heavy steel. Working its way on a square around the lock the red turned into white, making him look the other side. As the trace of the white light finally joined the point from which it had started it came suddenly off. He started to approach the door but Hopkins's voice made him stop. "Please stand back sir. It's not done yet".

He saw then that the light had moved to the top right of the door, on the area that stood against the shoulder while a similar light appeared on the same side but at the bottom. After a few seconds they both stopped and the door suddenly opened with the sound of twisted metal.

As he looked Johnson saw the figure on a power suit entering the cell. It was still holding the plasma pistol that he had used to cut the heavy steel of the locks and had a stun launcher underslung on his left shoulder. Lifting the faceplate, Johnson saw the familiar face of Hopkins who seemed extremely pleased and was wearing a grin from ear to ear. "Colonel! We were in the neighborhood and heard that you needed a ride home!" 

Johnson dropped his arms to his sides. "Hopkins, what are you doing here?! This is insane! You are assaulting a military installation! That's an act of war!" Another trooper on a power suit looked inside the cell and spoke. "Colonel, the motion scanner is picking more guards on the level below. He have to go now!"

"Crossett?" Johnson stood speechless as the other soldier complimented him. "What is going on here?" Looking outside the door, Hopkins spoke. "A bunch of us sir. We all heard about Vaughn's decision of how he put you on the brig for refusing to comply with his orders. But Captain Markovitch can explain it better to you. She's waiting for us to join with her on the Lightning". The reference to the prototype of X-Com newest advance craft made Johnson realized that explanations would have to be left for later. Following Hopkins he moved outside the cell. The figure of the guard was on the ground, motionless. Johnson stopped by it to check the status of the man but Hopkins rushed him forward to a staircase where Crossett was waiting. "They are all stunned. They will wake in a couple of hours with no idea of what happened to them and without any proof that we were responsible for your escape".

Johnson didn't make any comment as they joined Crossett by the staircase. "What's the plan for getting out of here?" Hopkins pointed upwards. "We get to the roof. The Lightning will pick us up there. We took out all of the guards in the watchtowers with the stun launchers. If we're quick no one will see us". As if in a response an alarm started to be heard inside the facility as they raced upwards. "Damn! They must have found the unconscious guards already. We need to hurry up!" All three men sprinted over the stairwell, with Crossett opening any locked doors with his plasma pistol or the sheer strength of his power suit.

When they finally reached the ceiling they found it empty of guards. Johnson looked around and upwards but there was also no sign of the escape craft. Hopkins raised his hand to an ear and afterwards spoke for the other two men. "Captain Markovitch is telling me that a couple of F-16s are racing towards their position. NORAD must have detected them. Too risky for them to land now". Reaching for the back of his suit, Hopkins took out a harness used for mountain climbing. Please put this on sir. We will have to use plan B". Johnson grabbed the safety belt and placed it on the floor. Placing both his legs on the openings for them, he pulled the belt upwards and locked it at his waist level.

"What is Plan B?" He asked knowing that probably it would be risky. "Me and Crossett are wearing flying suits. Just hook up the harness on my belt to my suit and I'll lift you to the craft". Shaking off the fear of taking such a flight he pressed himself against the metal of Hopkins's suit and found its belt full of locking places for the safety harnesses. "Just don't drop me Sarge or it will be a hell of a free fall!" Hopkins laughed and placed his plasma gun back to the holster. Placing his left arm to hold Johnson he then used his right hand to active the anti-gravity control on his chest.

A feeling of vertigo came by Johnson as the ceiling started to move away and in a few seconds he found himself looking at the whole prison facility from above. A number of guards were racing on the patio but no one seemed to be looking upwards. As they gained more altitude he turned his attention from the ground to the sky. He couldn't see anything in the middle of the darkness besides the stars, but suddenly a red beacon blinked above him and to the right. 

Hopkins corrected their flight towards the direction of the beacon and, after some seconds, the fuselage of the Lightning started to be visible in the night sky. The craft had been developed as a fast transport capable of carrying a platoon of troops. It had the classic saucer shape of the UFOs but on its top it sported a plasma cannon that could be used either for aerial fighting or for ground fire support. The first prototype had been built at Area 51 and it had just finished the last development tests before operational deployment.

A square of light on the side of the craft suddenly appeared and Hopkins stabilized their vertical movement and directed their flying path towards it. As they approached the door of the Lightning Johnson saw human figures inside it wearing also flying suits. When they finally reached the entrance they moved their arms to grab him and Hopkins. With him killing off all suit motion, the soldiers pulled them inside, taking use of the weightless of the anti-gravity device.

As both of them cleared the entrance to allow for Crossett to board the craft, Johnson unhooked himself from Hopkins. A familiar voice made him lift his head and say to the figure that approached him: "Only you to come up with a stunt like this". Markovitch embraced him and he returned the gesture. "You were not getting away from me from that easy!" He laughed and looked around him. The interior of the Lightning was crowded with a dozen X-Com troopers all clad in power suits with their helmets off, who were smiling at him. "Thanks". He muttered to all of them, nodding to each one. 

"Captain we need to go now or the F-16s will lock their weapons on us!" Clark's voice came from the pilot's console, which was located right next to the Elerium engine that occupied the center of the craft. The door had just been closed by one of the soldiers. "Get us out of here". Clark simply nodded to her and refocused his attention back at the console he was manning. Johnson unconsciously expected to feel the Lightning moving but instead he felt nothing due to the effects of the anti-gravity drive. 

She released him and grabbed his hand to conduct him to a couple of seats that had been left empty on purpose by the X-Com troopers for them. As they sat down he immediately started to ask questions. "What are all of you doing here? This is insane".

She started to explain. "Jackson called us yesterday, saying that you had been arrested and that we were back into US command. No one of the officers present was happy with the situation and we were all thinking about what to do, since we found the whole matter dirty and questionable, to say the least. And all of us trust you more than we would follow Vaughn's orders. We started talking between ourselves and we wanted to also talk with you but it was impossible since Jackson told us that you were locked away. So we decided to get into contact with Commander Illyuschenko, although Jackson had expressly forbid us".

He shook his head. "You are all going to be arrested for this you know? A case could be made for me disobeying Vaughn's orders but Jackson was your commanding officer inside X-Com's hierarchy".

She smiled to him. "We'll see about that. The General told us of what is going on at the Council. Basically if Vaughn gets access to the Ufopedia it's the death of X-Com. He also said that he was still our commanding officer until we made the decision of leaving or if X-Com was disbanded so Vaughn had no right to put you behind bars. So we decided to get things straight".

"Sheila, like I said, the whole matter is questionable. I made the decision of refusing Vaughn's orders to rejoin the US military because I felt that my place is with X-Com. I never expected Vaughn to do what he did but you should have learned from what happened to who he thinks is betraying him. You made the same error as I did and if X-Com gets disbanded getting me out of that prison will serve you no good". 

"You're wrong Erwin. Vaughn hasn't gained access yet to Area 51. Patterson has put the base on alert and secured the data files. Jackson has no idea of this operation since the only persons who know about it are here onboard besides Patterson and Prescott and some of the scientific staff. X-Com can still survive if you believe on it and the men back at base will follow you. We already established contact with Hunt back at Pollock and he also says that a number of men there will join us". She made a stern look to him.

"Sheila, you're nuts! This action will just drive Vaughn furious. What do you think it will happen afterwards when he finds out about it? Jesus, I'm surprised that Illyuschenko even authorized this operation!" Her next words surprised him. "He hasn't". Looking at her with his eyes wide open he asked. "What?!"

"When we proposed it to Commander Illyuschenko he forbid us saying that we wouldn't authorize such a course of action. I told him to put up with it: we are sticking to X-Com but only if you are here to lead us. And if he didn't like it he could go screw himself". Puzzlement came through his eyes until he started laughing. "What's the funny", she asked.

"Well, I disobeyed Vaughn but all of you here made a mistake even worst. You acted against two direct orders. I'll be damned if I understand". 

"Hey!" Her call made him look her directly on the eyes. "Get this straight Erwin: we are all here because we believe in this damn outfit and its mission. And we just saved your butt because we believe that you should be the one leading us, not Jackson who seems more willing to be following the orders of the damn idiot who is sitting at the White House at the moment!" 

Her voice showed a touch of anger. "Now you can stay there and complain about our actions as much as you want. But without you knowing, we made all our decision after hearing of how you disobeyed Vaughn's orders. We all remembered what you told us when China defected: this isn't a time where each country should act upon its best interests and that includes the US. For all I care Vaughn might be selling us to the aliens this minute! That means that the only ones that we trust is you and the Commander".

Her words stung into him and nodded. "You're right, I'm sorry". Grabbing her hand and squeezing it he smiled. "Thanks. Thanks to all of you for doing this". Looking around he remembered something. "But how did you knew where I was?"

Digging inside one of the pockets sewn into her jumpsuit's ankle she produced a silver ball. "I used this. It's a mind probe used by the aliens to get basic information for abductees. We made a number of flyovers until I detected your presence on that facility".

"Glad you've been practicing". She squeezed his hand harder. "Yeah. What are we going to do now?" He got up and went to the pilot's stations. "Now it's up to me and Commander Illyuschenko to decide". Grabbing a radio headset, he placed it on his head and started talking to the microphone. Markovitch watched him talk until suddenly he turned to Clark. "Turn this craft the other way".

She got up from his seat and approached both men. "Colonel, NORAD will pick us up and call back those F-16s!" Clark argumented. "Get below radar level and away from any populated areas as much as you can. Do whatever you have to do to avoid detection. We've seen the UFOs do it before and they won't be expecting us to come back". Clark shook his head at Johnson's reply but went back to his job.

The order surprised Markovitch. "We're getting back?! For what?" He pointed to one pocket in her jumpsuit. "Get that thing ready. Area 51 just informed me than we need to make an extra pick-up". 

The White House, Washington D.C., US

Vaughn and a number of Cabinet members and advisors were seated at the Oval Office, waiting for the video call from Nevada to be completed. It seemed to him that the whole situation had just gone out of control. When he had awaken he had been informed that Colonel Johnson had mysteriously evaded the federal penitentiary where he was being held into custody. NORAD had also tracked a UFO over the area but they had failed to intercept it or even determine from where it had came.

Thompson had called Colonel Jackson to know what was going on and from where the flight had originated using the hyperwave detector. But his reply a half hour later had been that he had lost contact with Area 51 and that a number of his Skyrangers were missing, together with the single Firestorm housed at the base. Vaughn would have fired the man on the spot if yet another call hadn't arrived from the American councilman in Geneve, saying that the other thirteen countries still remaining on the X-Com's Council seemed to be changing their minds about joining the US.

At that moment, May pointed out that it might be possible that members of X-Com loyal to Johnson had staged a prison break. At that moment he had ordered Thompson to deploy a full battalion of troops to take back control of the base. But when the notice from the incoming call reached him he smiled, realizing that the mutiny would soon be placed back under control. One way or the other.

As the screen flickered and Johnson's face appeared he turned his face immediately to show a deep concern but also resolution. "Colonel Johnson. I wonder if you and your men are aware of your actions. You are all about to spend your lives in prison in case you don't surrender immediately!"

Johnson just sighed. "Mr. President, like I told General Thompson before, we're out of the US hierarchy and now of your command. I'm talking to you only to inform you that I've informed the men and women assigned to this base of my decision not to surrender it back to the US while the alien war lasts. I've told them that they don't have to follow our own misguided leaders if they don't want to since it is possible for them to remain in X-Com". 

Thompson spat back at him. "Colonel, you will address your superiors properly!" Johnson's eyes moved to one side then refocused back at Vaughn. "Is that General Thompson, sir? Please tell him that I respect his and your office but that I'm not obligated to follow your orders nor have I been even when President Winston was on charge. The X-Com Charter, among with a number of things clearly stated it to prevent any national interference with the force".

Smiling devilish at him, Vaughn spoke as if presenting a fact. "X-Com does not exist anymore Colonel". He saw Johnson closing his eyes before replying. "Commander Illyuschenko informed me minutes ago that the meeting of the Council is about to restart, without the presence of your envoy". 

"You're lying! Without Area 51 they won't do anything. And you're about to lose your base!" Johnson turned to his side, to someone not visible before replying. "Major Prescott tells me that your troops are still two hours away from us. I would suggest if you call them back sir. It would be extremely difficult to explain images of American troops assaulting a UN base being played on the major networks". 

"Oh really? And how would they know? Your phone lines have been cut or jammed and there's no way to inform the media. In fact the only way that you have to communicate with the outside is through that hyperwave detector of yours. And even if you did contact them, how would you bring them there? Area 51 is in the middle of a controlled access military zone and the Air Force has already established a no-flying zone over the area. Try to move any of your planes and they will be shot down! It's time to fold your hand Colonel"

"I haven't shown all my cards Mr. President". The image expanded and a man using glasses appeared beside Johnson. "Please meet Mr. Evan Blake of the _New York Times_. He's their field reporter on UFO matters and has quite made an infamous reputation out of himself investigating the subject. I've picked him up and explained the whole situation to him, something that he found very interesting and newsworthy. We also had time to contact a number of Congress members: they told me that they would follow the whole situation carefully". 

Vaughn went up with rage. "You don't know with whom you are dealing Colonel!"

On the screen, Johnson's face turned into determination. "No. You're the one who doesn't understand what is going on. If any of your troops any trespass the perimeter of this base I have given orders for all of the research facilities and data to be immediately destroyed and for all military equipment and stores to be rendered useless. I expect that the men and women that have decided not to stay with us to be treated fairly without any charges to be pressed on them. Pollock is to return to US control but this base will only return to US possession when X-Com decides so and when all UN material is removed from it. We will continue to fight the aliens until their defeat but we won't involve ourselves into the US foreign policy". 

"You have just sunk yourself into a hole so deep that you will never crawl back again from it, Colonel. That I swear to you".

"It might be sir, but me and the rest of the men and women who decided to follow me, we don't care. We are here to fight the aliens, using a unified strategy, not one that only serves one country, even if it's ours. If we win this war then we'll see what happens afterwards. But if we lose it….well in that case even you will be able to do nothing. Good afternoon sir. Area 51 out".

The image went blank and Vaughn stared at the monitor, the rest of his staff speechless. Finally Thompson approached him and asked. "What shall we do, Mr. President?"

Closing his eyes, Vaughn replied. "Call off the strike force. I want that place completely surrounded by land and air. It used to be the place where no one could get in now no one will be allowed out of it. We'll make them starve to death". 

April 3rd, 2001

Area 51, Nevada, US

"Good morning". Blinking his eyes to adjust them to the overhead light, Williams saw Colonel Johnson standing by his bed, together with Davis. His head still fell fuzzy from the general anesthesia that they had applied to him before the operation. Trying to remember what had just happened in the last hours he raised his hand to his head. A thick bandage was covering the side of it. He also felt pain coming from his left shoulder if he tried to move it. "How…how did it go?"

"The doctors say that you will be fine. They have taken out the bullet that was lodged inside your arm and the second shot only grazed your skull. The loss of blood is what is worrying them the most at the moment but you're past danger now". Johnson moved closer to the bed. "Of course, now the only thing that remains to solve is what happened to you".

Feeling more awake now, Williams made an effort to try to remember. "I….I was driving home when a car came by my side and shot at me. I think I lost control of the wheel and must have hit the rails of the highway, I don't remember". Images flashed on his head but he couldn't make sense of them. "When I woke up I found myself covered with blood and still inside my car but it was rapidly filling with water. I managed to get out of it and swim to the shore of a river, I guess it was the Potomac. From there I dragged myself to a motel and checked a room, scrapping off the blood the best I could. The clerk looked at me in suspicion but I told him it was nothing and gave him an extra fifty to cover for any additional expenses. After that I finally managed to get in touch with Davis for a whole day, only to discover that his number here wasn't working".

Johnson looked at Davis at the end of the explanation, who rolled his eyes. "I know this sound crazy", Williams added, "but someone tried to kill me and missed, I guess. And I preferred not to go to the police since it would mean to the perpetrators that I survived".

Pointing back at Davis, Johnson made him stop. He looked behind in and saw that the infirmary was empty of any medical personnel. "He already told me a part of what both of you suspect when he informed me that you were gravely injured at the motel". 

Looking in horror at Davis the other man nearly shrugged his shoulders. "It was the only way to convince the Colonel to make a detour after they rescued him from prison". 

"Williams, we will discuss more of this later. Meanwhile there's something else that you should know that Davis has found out". The ex-FBI man nodded and spoke. "You're dead".

"Excuse me?" Williams thought that the other man was making some sort of a joke. "I've called the local police department: they have found your car on the bottom on the river. But yesterday they have also found a body ten miles down stream which they have identified as _you_!"

"That can't be right. I'm here ain't I?"

"Yes, but for all effects you are dead. Your wife has identified your body at the morgue. Apparently she had no doubt that it was you. According to the police report, the cause of your death was drowning. They concluded that you lost control of your car because of the rain and sank into the river. You drowned while trying to exit the vehicle".

"Jesus! My wife thinks I'm dead?" Davis nodded. "I've called her and she sounded a wreck. The service will be held later today. I was unsure of what it would be better to do so I gave her my condolences". Williams tried to get up on the bed but the pain coming from his shoulder and his dizziness made him falter. Quitting the effort, he dropped back to his pillow. "What is going on?"

With a blunt voice, Davis replied. "Someone made an effort to try to kill you. And at the same time they covered it up both the attempt and the failure. Most likely the same ones that were responsible for the support that General Smith was receiving here and for the base at New Mexico".

"And one might also ask if they hadn't anything to do with the recent affairs on the Council". Johnson added. "After what happened to me I even wonder if Vaughn hasn't anything to do with the matter". 

"Vaughn….." Williams thought deeply for some seconds and looked around. "I take it that the Commander managed to keep X-Com away from him?"

Johnson nodded. "He did. The US is out but this base still belongs to X-Com and so do we. Of course we haven't decided yet what to do since we are surrounded on all sides by a security net but that's another matter. By the way, thanks for the idea of making another stop and picking up Blake. That reporter is a big pain since he's constantly asking me for an interview but it was a good idea to use him to threaten Vaughn". 

"Yeah, but now we'll have to decide what we are going to do. Both with him and all the rest". Johnson nodded and started to move away. "That can way for a couple of days. For now get better, then we'll see".

__

André Galvão, 2002


	27. A Simple War

X-Com: The Unknown Menace

Chapter Twenty-Six – A Simple War

April 23rd, 2001

La Guardia Airport, New Jersey, US

The waiting area of gate nineteen was almost empty of passengers and the ticket desk's lights were off, leaving only the lights of the passageway to illuminate this section. The rows of seats were almost empty except for a couple of youngsters that seemed to be trying to sleep until their flight next morning and a single suited man who was using the available light to read the newspaper. According to the information presented on a blue monitor over the desk the next flight leaving from the gate would leave at seven in the morning, bound for Heathrow, London. 

Number Three had moved down the boarding area of the airport, using the mechanic passageways until he had reached gate nineteen. When he arrived, his two bodyguards made a visual check of the area and left him afterwards, positioning themselves in opposite corners of the lounge. Number Three stopped for a minute before heading to the seated man, who was still reading his newspaper.

As he approached him, the seated figure brought down the newspaper and folded it neatly, placing it on the seat nearby close to his briefcase and Grey trench coat. Number Two then finally acknowledged Three's presence by nodding to him. As the other man sat on the available seat close to him, he commented in a mock tone: "Was this really necessary?"

"Why not?" He replied casually. "Since my normal duties made me travel here I thought it best to see how everything is running this side of the Atlantic". Three looked at the ceiling for one second. "Please stop with the holy attitude will you? We both know that you don't need to come here to know how things are going".

Two feigned surprise but he replaced it afterwards with a stern question. "Very well. I've heard rumors about the fate of someone we both know. Apparently he suffered a accident and his car had to be lifted from the bottom of a river". 

A wicked smile crossed Three's lips. "What's so special about it? Accidents do happen, specially if you're tired and the weather is lousy". 

"So you do know about what has happened?" The tone of the question made it a rhetorical question. 

"Of course. I always keep myself an interest about the people I know. Specially about those who have crossed my path too many times". Three's eyes flashed for a moment with satisfaction.

"So you confirm that he's dead?" Two looked at him trying to pierce the other man's mask if he tried to conceal anything from him, defying his certainty. 

The gesture surprised Three but he quickly reacted by countering it with a blunt response. "Of course! Someone shot him and his car ran over the protection rails and ended on the river. The police recovered both body and car afterwards. He was buried a couple of days later with no trace of who might have attacked him". 

Two kept his reluctance in accept it. "And you're sure that it was him?"

"Ask his wife: she confirmed it. I have obtained photographs taken while he was still at the morgue if you want to see them". Two thought of it for a moment but then declined to pursue the subject any further. "How unfortunate then. But I guess it had to be done".

"Like everything else on our business". Two was gloating and making no effort to hide it.

"Yes". Speaking in a casual tone, he commented afterwards. "Still, there are some things that just won't change, no matter how hard we try". Three nodded in agreement which surprised him. "I know. That's why I stopped worrying about them".

"My dear fellow, you can't be serious. You mean you have given up your quest to deal the final blow on the organization?" Something was up and Two could feel it.

"A waste of effort that could be more efficiently spend on other matters". Looking over the window to see the planes taxiing outside, he continued: "Our friends have made a communication about a week ago". 

__

What? Two was aghast but he surprised his surprise about the news coming from the aliens. He decided it was necessary for him to know everything about this message.

The fact that he hadn't been informed right away told him that One and Three had decided that the rest of the group didn't need to know until next council meeting. Either the subject of the communication was harmless or its implications far exceeded what they were expecting and both men had decided to conceal the knowledge to have an advantage over the rest. 

Catching Two's preoccupation, Three boasted. "You shouldn't worry too much. They just informed us that the next steps of the plan are about to be taken". He stopped talking and looked directly at Two. 

The bastard was enjoying himself, he realized and he couldn't do anything about it. Padding the other man's ego was the only way to get the information he needed. 

He let impatience creep into his voice: "And….?"

"And also that from now on any opposition will not be tolerated anymore but eradicated. Either Earth joins them or we will die".

__

So that is why you have stopped concerning about X-Com all along. The aliens have taken upon themselves the responsibility to dealing with any force that is a threat to their plans. A bit of information that Two had once learned popped into his mind as he considered the implications. 

"That including your own special contingency plan in case anything went wrong in the affairs with our 'friends'?" Three's coldness filled the air around him. "Yes. They are useless for any purpose now. There's no point in keeping something that might enrage our allies". Looking at him carefully, Two replied: "I see". 

Three got up from his chair. "I hope you do. Well, if there's nothing more to discuss I should get going because I have a lot of things waiting for me tomorrow". Two didn't answer as he started to walk away. 

However, after stopping a few steps ahead he turned and said: "And be careful from now on". 

He raised his hand and made a circle with his index finger. "Air travel can be quite hazardous in the future". Taking conscience of the meaning behind his words, Two nodded and grabbed back his newspaper while the other man left the area. 

May 10th, 2001

Louisiana coast, US

A pair of tall and muscular figures was moving amongst the banks of mist that littered the swamp, taking steps carefully to try not to get bogged on the mud. Both of them were carrying large, white-plastered weapons, holding them with both hands. 

They were completely alert, ready to deal with any surprise that might be hiding out between the fog or amongst the massive trees of the forest that stood close to the Gulf of Mexico.

Seen from the distance they looked nothing more than two hard to spot strange looking individuals all dressed in green colors. If anyone saw them, they would probably be mistaken for hunters returning home in the late hours of the day with some strange looking weapons. 

Overhead, the sky was already starting to black out and turning the whole swamp into a sea of shadows. But to the figures it didn't matter as they continued to move towards their objective, oblivious to both pairs of eyes that were watching them from away, using infrared vision to compensate for the fog in the area. 

About half a mile a craft looking as if it had came out of a sci-fi movie stood in the middle of an open area on the swamp, with half of its undercarriage disappearing in the dirty waters underneath it. More than twenty feet in diameter and seven feet in height, its shape was similar to a circle painted in blue and Grey tones. There were windows built into its walls but they were small and completely dark.

The entrance to the craft opened noiselessly and two figures became visible against the darkened interior. One jumped from the open door to the ground below, disturbing the still salty waters below, with the other quickly following it. 

Although they had a humanoid appearance, with a torso, head and limbs, they also looked more as giant insects that could walk upright. Their body was covered by an exoskeleton that was painted in several tones of green and their heads were asymmetrical, with the area of the right eye being bigger than the left one. They also had an antenna coming from the back of their heads. 

One of the figures was taller than the other and as it moved through the opening the appendage got itself stuck into the top of the door, releasing itself afterwards and swinging from one side to the other as they moved away from the craft. They also carried large weapons with both their hands, but they were better concealed by a green tropical camouflage fabric, which covered them.

Aboard the craft another figure stood by the door and watched them moving away. It was also wearing the same exoskeleton as the figures that had just left the craft but the head was smaller, lacking the ball shaped helmet. It was a woman with her brown hair cut in a short fashion. 

As soon as they reached the nearest tree, it moved an arm to the side of the door and activated the command to close it. Opposite twin metal plates moved over the entrance, joining themselves at the middle. 

She then turned away and said in a disgusted tone: "Phew! What a stench!" She was talking to the other two occupants of the craft who were standing on the center, seated on chairs in front of workstations. 

Turning to the pilot, a young man about her age with light hair and wearing an earpiece and microphone, she asked. "Clark, what's the status of the National Guard?"

"Cap, the commander sounds still confused about what they should do. They just weren't expecting that a second UFO would drop on the area and now are waiting for a special team to arrive while they continue to tighten the net around both UFOs". 

"Jackson must have sent one of the platoons to deal with the aliens. Otherwise the Mutons would just have eaten alive the Guardsmen if they ran into them. Let me know if anything else comes up". The pilot acknowledged and she turned to the other man, who was also wearing a Grey jumpsuit like him but instead of a P shaped insignia on his right breast had a square without his bottom side. 

"Let's get this done doctor. All this waiting is making me nervous". She looked back at the door before starting to seat. 

On another location of the swamp, a polished green and brown surface started to emerge slowly out of the mucked waters close to the stump of a dead tree.

As more of it started to be barely visible against the surface of the swamp, anyone close enough to it could see that it had a circular shape, somewhat larger than a man's head. 

On one of its sides it had a smaller protuberance. It was directly facing another strange looking craft, but that was smaller and was all made of shining Grey metal. It was hovering inches above the water and it gave a strange blue luminescence that reflected itself upon the watery atmosphere of the location. 

After a few seconds, it started to scan the rest of the area, from one side to the other.

As it did, it suddenly stopped while looking to the left, seeing a humanoid figure standing twenty yards away from him in the middle of the puddle and facing his opposite direction. 

It was wearing a green tight suit that covered it from legs to head only revealing the facial area. The alien's violet temples contracted itself and it gripped its heavy plasma tighter, the whiteness of the weapon showing splashes of mud. 

The Muton was noseless, but it had nostrils built halfway in-between his eyes and mouth, a pair of cavities that it rose in the air, trying to pick a scent. 

The X-Com soldier froze into position as the alien searched for the threat that it had detected. With a very precise motion, he supported the weight of his body on his left hand while the right gripped the plasma weapon that was lying besides him on the bottom of the swamp. Trying to move it closer, the soldier found out that it had gotten itself stuck in the decaying tree branches that littered the bottom of the swamp.

Uttering a course inside his helmet, he stopped breathing and his heart took a leap as the alien' senses swept through the location where he was submerged. 

But the camouflage and the swamp did a good job in concealing him. Finding nothing, the Muton started to move forwards, making another search with his black glossy eyes where a speck of white could be seen as its iris swept for enemies. 

The soldier's thoughts now feared that the alien it might trip his feet in one of the other five submerged troopers but luckily it didn't happen. When the soldier saw that it was far away, he dove his head back into the waters, which obscured his vision, allowing him only to see the inside of his helmet. 

The salt in the water coming from the ocean gave him a bigger bouancy but the weight of the suit was supposed to contract it. Nevertheless he grabbed a branch on the bottom to secure himself in case he started to move unexpectedly upwards and reveal his position.

Activating his radio with a movement of his jaw, he spoke. "Sarge, watch out. One of them is moving on your direction". When the acknowledgement came, the soldier went back into the task of waiting until the next phase of the plan. 

Inside the Lightning craft, Markovitch looked at Dr. Young, who was standing beside her and checking a metal object that she was carrying in her left hand and was linked to her power suit by a cord on her forearm. "King still has both of them on his sights. We need to hurry if we also want to try to get the UFO". 

The scientist nodded his head and moved his fingers along the metal Grey collection of fused tubes that composed the main portion of the psi-amp that she was holding. On the top of one cylinder rested the amplifier, a glass and violet cylinder. Reaching a red switch on the side Young pressed it. "It's active now. Be careful or you might affect us. First, try to lock on King".

She nodded and closing her eyes she used King's voice to direct her concentration. Her left hand turned towards his direction. 

Experiencing herself travelling, her consciousness found the X-Com soldier, who was down in a puddle of mud. Fighting through his natural resistance, she told him on the radio to try to relax as much as possible to help her task. 

The sniper's psi level was on the low range of the scale and in two heartbeats the blackness of her closed eyes was replaced by the vision of the scope of King's heavy laser, with two Mutons moving away from the trooper. Her arm drifted a little and she projected her conscience towards the alien on the left, who was ahead of the other. 

"Are you alright?" Young's voice came suddenly but she ignored him. Instead she tried to fight back the strange and repulsive feeling that came crashing down into her as she managed to mind control the alien. It had happened too faster than she had expected, much quicker than with King. And now she experienced the strength of the alien's arms and legs, heard the strong pulsation of its cardiovascular system that was more akin of a high-pressure pump and felt the alien's thoughts. 

Not that she could make much sense of them. The Muton had a primitive mind and amongst the sea of feelings and instincts she discerned fear and rage for what was happening to it. "I got him!" She shouted with a tone of surprise. 

"Can you make him move?" Young's question distracted her as she was starting to pay attention to guttural sounds that seemed to be coming from behind the mind controlled alien. 

As she started to try, she saw the vision of the swamp changing, as the Muton turned its body to the right on her command. One of its feet tripped on something but she managed to keep it balanced with a jerky motion.

The other Muton was staring at her and she decided that she would never want to be close to one of these aliens in person. Its face was a mask of aggression, with the eyes piercing through her.

Feeling a weight on her hands, she noticed the gun the alien was carrying and started to move its limbs. Then a flash of pain came through her and she jerked back on the chair of the Lightning where she was seated. She was now looking at the human face of Dr. Young who had his face directly in front of her. 

"What happened?" Young deactivated the psi-amp while he moved to check her pulse. At the same time, King's voice appeared on the radio channel. "Holy shit! One of the Mutons just shot the other!"

Controlling her breath, she turned to Young. "It worked, but the other Muton must have detected that something was wrong and killed it". The memory still gave her pain. "I need to try to control it now and see what I can do with him". 

Young looked a diagnostics board that was monitoring her brain waves and scowled. "I'm getting some strange readings here. Are you sure you want to do it again?" His voice showed concern. "I feel fine", she answered to him. 

Giving the dials another look he acquitted. "OK. But the minute you feel any physical indisposition this thing gets called off. And when we get back I'll need to do some tests. Something isn't right here". 

Fifteen minutes later Lieutenant Digriz was standing by the entrance of the medium scout together with Sergeant Krenon. They were both watching as a pair of troopers escorted the Muton that was carrying back to the Lightning the plasma weapons that had been retrieved from inside the UFO.

Both of them had been submerged on the swamp waters and had first class tickets for the carnage that Markovitch had wrecked among the aliens. 

They had watched as suddenly the aliens outside the UFO had started shooting at one another as the Captain controlled one and another and used it to kill the other Mutons. In the end only one alien had remained alive and now she was using him to speed up the process of the recovery of all useful alien artifacts that could be carried away. "I'd never thought I'd see this". Krenon commented as the alien moved out of sight.

"Same with me Sergeant. Let's finish the job and get back. It shouldn't take too long for the Skyranger to reach this area". Moving inside the opened door of the UFO, he pointed to the engine that occupied the center. "Get the Elerium. I'll deal with the rest". 

Bringing his plasma rifle from his back he pointed it to the alien pilot's console. Everything that could be carried by hand would be brought back to Area 51. The rest would just be destroyed so that the American forces would only retrieve a worthless hulk, together with some alien bodies stripped of their equipment and weapons.

Digriz pressed the trigger but to his surprise nothing happened. "What?" He turned his weapon to the side to check for the level of Elerium ammunition and found that the meter showed it to be empty. That struck him as bizarre since the clip was supposed to be fully charged.

Removing the black ammunition clip from the rifle and examining it, he found no anomalies on it that could have damaged the Elerium container inside. Some drips of swamp water fell to the metal ground as he removed the clip but he paid no attention to them. His suit was already covered by moisture from standing in the bottom of the swamp. 

"I'm done sir". Krenon's voice distracted him. The Sergeant had cut a hole on the engine and now held a pair of golden crystals on his metal hand than shone brightly. He took a plastic bag and inserted them inside, sealing the bag before putting it on his backpack. Digriz threw away the useless clip and reached for a grenade on his belt. "Let's go then". Holding the grenade on his hand, he pressed with his thumb to release the safety mechanism. "This will take care of the rest". Digriz placed the explosive on top of one of the pilot's consoles and both men quickly left the craft. When the noise of the Elerium detonation reached them they were already ankle deep in the swamp waters, speeding towards the direction of the river where their craft was waiting for them. 

May 16th, 2001

Area 19, Nevada, US

The provisional helipad built at Papoose Lake was nothing more than a white circle painted on a patch of flat earth nearby the main facility. It was close to the main security fence that surrounded the location and a pair of Theta security troopers assigned to the defense points was rushing towards a nearby trench for cover. The blast of the Skyranger's engines started a small maelstrom along the landing zone. Only the automated tank deployed to area stood on its position as the plane's engines finished their rotation to an upright position, allowing the pilot to make a vertical landing.

Inside the Skyranger, Johnson and Markovitch were seated in the cargo area; both of them clad in the blue armor. "At least no one tried to shoot back at us this time". She turned her head to him and grumbled something.

"What's the matter with you? You have been so grumpy in the past days". The inside of the plane shook as it hit the ground and she opened her eyes. "Must be having a bad PMS syndrome or something".

He cocked an eyebrow at her. "You don't suppose it has anything to do with the request from Young to see him?" Johnson noticed that her eyes gazed on something for a second, leaving her with a complete blank expression. "Hey! Wake up!" He shook her shoulder.

She looked back at him, her voice showing a tone of anger. "What?!" With a movement of her arm she put away his hand. 

"What are you daydreaming about?" Her replying came menacing. "Just gimme a break will you?" He gave up and headed towards the back of the plane, stepping down the ramp of the Skyranger. 

Because of the distance separating Groom Lake from Papoose it had been impossible for both facilities to be inside X-Com's defense perimeter. Since Johnson didn't want to use the combat teams for base defense they had established two smaller perimeters around both bases.

President Vaughn had ordered a full blockade of the facilities by US forces and Army troopers had dug themselves right on the other side of the perimeter. As Johnson stepped out of the plane he noticed that he actually could see a patrol of regular troops standing one hundred yards from him, dressed in combat fatigues and holding M-16s. 

The encirclement of the X-Com base also applied to the air. The Air Force had a flight of F-16s interceptors in the nearby Nellis Air Force Base, ready to take off in five minutes in case he tried to launch planes. And the Army had deployed armed Apache helicopters to the area.

However so far they had been unable or unwilling to shoot down the Skyranger shuttle flights that where the only link between Areas 51 and 19. There were a number of daily flights that connected the facilities, transporting men and material from one base to the other. Most of the useful equipment from Area 19 that could be carried away had already been shipped to other bases. However, they still needed the labs contained inside. 

Johnson thought it to be a waste of resources to use the Skyrangers on such a limited basis but there wasn't much that he could do since they would be easy prey for the American interceptors. The combat missions now flown from Area 51 had all to be done using the Firestorm fighters or the single Lightning transport. The man made UFOs were the only safe transports that could run across the US blockade. 

Checking his chronometer he spoke to Markovitch, who had just joined him outside the craft. "There's a flight back in two hours. Let's see if we can catch it". Her response came laconic. "Right". 

Some minutes later they were on the subterranean levels of Area 19 inside Young's office. The scientist looked paler than usual as if he hadn't seen the daylight for a long time. They were all seated in chairs, with Markovitch seeming to be skulking. Young turned to her and said: "You are not feeling right are you?"

A poisonous look on her face gave him the reply. "Are you a moron doctor?" Johnson looked at her in disbelief. The scientist nodded to her and looked at both of them before continuing to speak. "I think I know what your problem is". 

She frowned at him and Johnson started to feel concern but he said nothing. Morale was dropping in the last couple of days around the base since they were starting to run out of supplies, including food. As a result everyone had now to eat C-rations until High Command could find a way to resupply the base. 

A couple of minutes later, Johnson and Markovitch had entered Young's office. The scientist greeted them and asked them to seat down. Johnson looked at her in apprehension as she nearly shoved herself into the chair. 

When Young was sure that the door was locked, also got a seat. After a moment of silence on which he seemed to be collecting his thoughts, he said: 

"I don't know how to put it, so I'll just say it to you as simple as I can. 

Yesterday, one of the high level psis on Mother One went insane during a combat mission and started to control the other soldiers".

"What?!" Johnson's reply was the same as her, but he was surprised by the tone of her voice. It showed more that just shock, but also anger and fear. 

Young raised a hand to stop them. "Let me finish please. The soldier involved had been gone through a lot of action in the past days and we suspect that he basically overextended beyond his mental limits. 

However, the commanding officer on the scene had to remove the psi-amp from him by force and knock him down unconscious. When they got back, the CAT scan showed irreversible damage to certain areas of his brain". 

Both of them were showing complete disbelief. She got up from her chair and pointed her finger at him. "You are telling me that what I'm feeling comes from the damn psionics!? And that I'm turning wacko from it? Why haven't you told me this before?!" Rage filled her voice.

Johnson was also about to get up but Young's voice stopped him. "Captain, calm down. We only discovered this yesterday and we are still in time to prevent permanent damage to your brain".

She started pacing the room, ignoring his words. "Great! Fucking great!"

"What are you going to do about this?" Johnson asked. 

"Dr. Chevereux recommended to stop all use of psi-amps until we can research into this problem and Commander Illyuschenko approved of the decision". 

Rolling his eyes in frustration, he added. "Doctor, I mean her".

"The tests on the other psis show that the use of the psi-amps modifies the brain's biochemistry. We are sure that we can correct it through medication but after an unknown stage the drugs simply won't work and damage will be irreversible. 

We don't know the reason for this happening but probably our brain cortex hasn't evolved enough to fully deal with the psionic energies". Johnson sensed that there was something that Young wasn't telling him and it made him suspicious.

Young looked at Markovitch and back to him. "Most likely a Sectoid's brain is fully prepared to deal with psionics. _Probably_ their experiments with hybrids are an attempt to resolve this problem but we would have to research more in the matter to be sure". Johnson froze, realizing what Young was implying but he couldn't talk more now because of Markovitch's presence.

She had now stopped and had sat down again. Her voice came drained. "Doctor, if I stop using psionics will this condition still affect me?"

His face lightened a bit. "Most likely yes. Almost sure, but I can't make any promises. The medical staff here is already being informed of what they should do. When you go back they will take care of you". She nodded and sank back into her chair. Johnson reached for her hand and squeezed it. 

"And Colonel Johnson?" He turned to Young. "I'll do my best to see how this malady can be prevented. But you came with any _other _decision regarding this matter just inform me". He nodded to him and they both left his office without saying anything else. 

June 21st, 2001

Mother One, Black Forest, Germany

"Here it comes Commander". The voice didn't distract Illyuschenko, who was standing in the middle of X-Com's operations center on the European base, clad on his power suit and with his hands placed against the side of his belly. About a month ago Egypt had been the last country to defect to the aliens' side, with massive landings of UFOs carrying the mysterious new extraterrestrials that no one had yet identified.

He had wanted to launch a major operation to capture one of the massive alien craft but it would take too long for the Skyrangers to reach the landing areas and they would need escorts against the Egyptian Air Force's MiGs. The Lightnings would be a better choice but there weren't enough of them available to transport the necessary number of soldiers. 

The tragedy of the event had been further visualized as an agent of the MI6, the British intelligence service, had managed to take a number of snapshots of a landing. It showed one of the alien's Battleships parked right next to the Sphinx, with the Gizeh Pyramids on the background. 

But now they were as ready as they ever would be, Illyuschenko concluded, trying not to be too overconfident. The red dot on the board overhead him was moving over Syria in a possible path towards Algeria or Libya. Based on the alien's seen tactics, they would try now to infiltrate the countries close to Egypt, like they had done with New Guinea or Mongolia. 

And Saudi Arabia was already experiencing domestic problems originating from the UFO intrusions over its airspace. A number of radical Muslim political factions were claiming that the overflights were coming from Israel, leading to claims of action against the Jewish State. 

On Israel itself, the close alien activity was straining the politicians and military alike, which could prompt an attack on neighboring Egypt. Which would ignite the whole area into full-scale warfare and probably sending more of the Arab nations to the alien's camp. 

__

Too much political implications all together. Illyuschenko concluded abruptly as the processor built into the hyperwave detector finished translating the beacon signals from the alien craft. The space underneath the dot became filled with red lines: BATTLES/UNKNOWN/ABDTION/CNTASIA. 

"It's the same that Stalingrad base detected sir". Again he didn't reply to the voice. The craft had been detected a little more than an hour ago by the Russian base, until it had moved over the detector's operational range over the Persian Gulf. The contingency plan for such an occurrence had been sprung into action the minute the UFO had been spotted. Three Lightnings would carry a company of X-Com's combat troops, drawn from the German and the Russian base, all chosen for a single factor: their high levels of resistance to psi-attacks. And they would also shown some new tactics to the aliens, designed by him and the rest of his staff to surprise the aliens. 

He gave one last look to the board before speaking to the officer who was talking to him. "Tell the Lightnings to be ready to launch when I join them". Turning away he headed towards the hangar section. 

Anatolia Plateau, Turkey

The alien Battleship had landed in farmland, after overflying the Middle East for a number of hours. It stood in an open area, its massive legs crushing a wheat field underneath it. Illyuschenko was monitoring the UFO, standing being the pilot as the Lightning craft stop in the air and started to make its descent into the landing zone.

The three X-Com planes that were descending from the skies into the golden colored fields in a loose triangular formation, each craft at one vortex, with the alien UFO roughly at the middle of the triangle. When they landed, each platoon would clear its landing area of any aliens that might be posted outside and them move to link with the other platoons and establish a perimeter around the Battleship.

The Lightning carrying Illyuschenko landed in between haystacks, a few meters away from a disabled tractor upon its landing struts. X-Com troopers immediately started to come out of the brown and light grey colored craft, through the side door. Some of them were equipped with flying suits and they took advantage of the anti-gravity device built into the suits to take long leaps out from the door and place themselves in better positions to cover the landing.

Illyuschenko grabbed his heavy plasma and headed towards the door of the Lightning. Following him was a trooper carrying the massive bulk of a blaster launcher on his hands. Both of them were the last to exit the craft. The platoon aboard had already deployed and was engaging the aliens outside the UFO. 

A quick look around the landing zone showed him that so far they had few problems dealing with the new aliens. One of the capped creatures was lying on the ground, with smoke coming from the spots on the rope that had been hit by plasma and laser fire. Illyuschenko couldn't see much of the alien behind the cape, besides a yellowish arm that was poking out of the blackened clothing, still clutching a heavy plasma on its hand. 

"What is that?!" A surprised voice suddenly came on the radio with a heavy Russian accent. "All squads, the aliens have some sort of armored…. thing!" 

As he jumped out of the last two steps and into the ground, Illyuschenko tried to see the direction of the soldier who had just called. He could see that one of the squads was using the side of a barn to take cover and he started racing in that direction. As he looked upwards, he saw that the UFO towered over the building. 

"Fox two, get some cover! That tank is just too tough!" The mention of a tank worried Illyuschenko, who wondered if the aliens might have any other surprise for them waiting inside the craft. X-Com had never boarded any of the Battleships and they had no idea of what they might be facing inside. Based on the few reports concerning the vessel, its massive hulk carried more than two dozens of aliens and they were deployed through twin massive doors built into the central leg of the craft.

The doors were large enough for Cyberdisks to use them and Illyuschenko thought if the troops had encountered one of the flying machines as he sped towards the barn. The squad in front of him started retreated from the side of the building towards the back of the barn. Illyuschenko was now moving a small orchard of apple trees. Then a strange machine moved in his line of view at the other end of the barn.

Calling the alien thing a tank was probably just a way to give it some sort of name, Illyuschenko concluded, since it moved using twin armored legs, the size of tree trunks. On the top of them there was an egg shaped white body. Two red circles on its front gave it the impression of being some sort of eyes, giving it the impression of some sort of live metal beast. And underneath them, two large barrels sprout out of the body, glowing green as they discharged plasma rounds.

The tree next to Illyuschenko's side burst into splinters as one of the green hellish balls hit it. He tried to point his plasma weapon at it to fire back but the alien machine quickly moved out of his sight, using the other end of the barn as cover.

Cursing, Illyuschenko and the other soldier joined the squad that had dug next to the barn. Two troopers were standing a watch on the sides of the barn while another one was on his knees, tending with a medikit an unconscious figure on the ground. Searching for the officer in the charge he asked to the soldiers. "Where's the squad leader?"

The kneeled figure raised his helmet on his direction and replied in a voice thick with tension and fear. "Lieutenant injured. Me leader now, Corporal Malenkov". 

Illyuschenko reverted to Russian to make talking to the nervous soldier easier and pointed with his armored hand at the fallen figure. "Malenkov, how's the officer doing?"

The other soldiers looked at him as they heard their mother tongue on the squad channel. "The lieutenant will live, but for now he's out of the fight. That tank is making us impossible to advance, sir!" He pointed towards Illyuschenko's escort and to the blaster launcher it was carrying. "He was asking for heavy support against it, sir!"

"Well, he will have it now. Sergeant, target the enemy's machine". The non-commissioned officer quickly moved towards one of the edges of the barn. Looking around the corner he made a mental calculation of the length of the building. The trooper then started to calculate and enter the necessary waypoints for the trajectory of the guided missile. Entering the information on the controls on the side of the dark blue barrel of the bazooka like weapon, the soldier finished the preparations to fire.

Checking his work on the small computer's visor attached to the top of the launcher he turned to Illyuschenko. "Ready to fire Commander, but the blast will probably take out the entire building. We should take cover". Illyuschenko nodded.

There was only a small stone fence three feet tall that defined the orchard next to the barn and he decided that it would have to be sufficient. Moving towards the fallen figure, he placed his hands under its armpits. "Corporal, give me a help with the legs. All of the others, retreat to the fence and give the ground a bear hug".

The soldier quickly helped Illyuschenko bring the injured officer to the protection of the stone wall as the other soldiers carefully followed them. When they were all crouching against the dark earth terrain underneath the trees, he ordered the sergeant to fire.

A low fizzling noise was all he heard for a couple of seconds as the bomb left the barrel and made its way around the barn. Then the earth shook, followed by the noise of the Elerium blast, muffled by his power's suit noise suppressors.

The low stone wall collapsed in top of the soldiers and the mortar that composed it dropped all over the men, half-burying them in debris.

When the commotion was done, Illyuschenko rose his head and looked. The whole barn was had been completely leveled out by the shock wave of the explosion, with the remaining wood still standing on the side next to him burning fiercely. The rest of the building had been sublimated by the blast, leaving only a cloud of smoke that quickly disappeared as the ashes precipitated into the ground. 

As he didn't saw the seven feet tall machine anymore, Illyuschenko got up and noticed that the only remains left from the alien tank were the massive legs that had been scattered by the explosion. 

A loud sound to his right made him turn just in time to watch a small tool shed fifty yards away crashing into the ground. "Move out!" He shouted, with his mind already on the alien UFO whose figure loomed on the horizon.

When Illyuschenko and the rest of the X-Com soldiers got close to the Battleship, he wasn't satisfied. The troopers were trying to reach the entrance, located in the central pillar that supported of the craft but the Ethereals were making it impossible. 

He saw soldiers in power suits standing against the outside pillars waiting to go around the metal legs of the UFO and reach the doors, but the aliens inside were making it impossible. Looking for Colonel MacTaggert, he followed the directions of the concealed troopers until he reached the officer who was standing behind the remains of a tractor.

"Colonel, why aren't you giving cover to the men ahead?" His voice demanded for an explanation. 

"Already tried sir. The aliens just use their mind tricks on the soldiers who try to give suppressive fire and disappeared inside! And I've seen the bloody things fly also! They're like spirits!" His voice became excited and frustrated. "Bloody ethereal ghosts! And there's one of their tanks inside!"

"Get me a squad with flying suits!" Turning to the sergeant close to him, still holding the blaster launcher, he ordered: "Piotr, try to blow a hole on the top level!"

As MacTaggert started to shout orders on the radio and the sergeant prepared his weapon, Illyuschenko checked the flight controls of his suit. He had never used it before in combat but he had performed as many training flights as he could spare time to. 

Close to the craft, the soldiers nearby one of the pillars suddenly ran for cover as the operator of the blaster launcher ordered for clearance. Again, when he was satisfied he pressed the trigger, sending one of the guided missiles on a pre-established flight that sent it against the fuselage of the craft. 

The side and top of the UFO were suddenly covered with an inferno of flames as the bomb exploded but Illyuschenko ignored it. Activating the controls of the anti-gravity engine strapped on the back of his armor, he took off the ground in a brusque movement.

Correcting the upward motion, he gave himself a forward movement towards the impact area of the bomb. He saw one of the troopers who had raced for cover also ascending while around him and three other soldiers coming from the X-Com lines joined him on the air.

The side of the UFO was releasing dark smoke making it impossible to judge how great had been the hole that the missile had carved on the fuselage. However, a green bolt coming out of the dark mist told Illyuschenko that it was big enough for the aliens to fire from it. It hit the soldier who was nearby and the man suddenly dropped to the ground like a stone. 

"Hold movement! Piotr! Fire a second round at the same location!"

Ten seconds later, as the call from the Sergeant came announcing that he was opening fire, Illyuschenko and the three other soldiers gripped their control panels in their chest tighter, waiting for the blast wave that would sure hit them at this distance.

It was as worse as Illyuschenko had imagined but he was ready for it. He felt as if a giant invisible hand suddenly slapped him as if he was nothing more than a mosquito. It sent him and the other troopers backwards but they all managed to control their flight paths in a matter of seconds. 

But, more important, the force of the explosion hadn't damaged their armor and they moved quickly to the now enlarged hole. A number of secondary explosions were heard coming from the inside of the UFO as they approached it and Illyuschenko saw debris spinning off from the hole. 

None hit the soldiers and, clearing the smoke, they found a hole seven feet in diameter cut into the fuselage, with the alien metal bent inwards at the rim of the circle. "MacTaggert, move the rest of the men!" The order came as he was negotiating the edges to land, with one of the men already inside helping him. 

He found himself in one small corridor, in front of a compartment whose wall facing them had been completely ruined by the force of the explosion. On the inside he could see a bluish smoke, coming from ruined red containers. According to Dr. Chevereux those contained some sort of recreational drug for the aliens. Gripping his heavy plasma he followed one of the soldiers as he prepared to turn around one corner. 

With a quick movement, they sprang out with their weapons, filling the corridor in front of them with plasma fire. At the distance, their shots hit one of the orange capped aliens but it quickly responded before disappearing from view. 

"Ethereal indeed". Illyuschenko muttered to himself as he moved out of the corridor. He stopped when he saw that the soldier trooper was still standing there. "Hey! What are you doing here you stupid!" The answer to his question jumped into his mind as the soldier started to turn towards him slowly. 

Illyuschenko raised his plasma weapon in reaction, with the butt of the cannon hitting the weapon the X-Com soldier was now pointing at his direction. 

Illyuschenko had thrown the blow without thinking and more in a movement to deflect the shot that the mind controlled trooper was about to fire at him. It succeeded and it also had the bonus effect of making snatching the plasma rifle from the soldiers' hands and into the wall.

The X-Com commander found himself facing one unarmed man that was being mind-controlled by the aliens ahead. He tightened his finger around the trigger of his weapon but something prevented him from firing. 

It was a laughter that he could hear deep inside him. _Do it! _

When he heard the voice it made him hesitate and he felt his strength disappearing. _You'll be killing him anyway later! Do it or it will be you!_

However, before he could anything, the unarmed trooper broke into a run down the corridor, apparently running away from him. Illyuschenko took one second to respond: he started chasing the soldier, who was blocking the alien's vision of him. 

When he reached the intersection ahead he found the soldier standing nearby it, next to one of the aliens, who seemed to be weary.

The hood of its cape had fallen off his head, showing the scarred pale skin of its thin neck. It was looking at one door that was closely in apprehension but its attention quickly turned to Illyuschenko as it detected his presence. He gave it no chance to respond, killing the alien with two plasma shots to its torso that send the alien spinning against the metal floor. 

Moving the weapon towards the soldier, Illyuschenko felt dread coming over him again but a voice took off the burden of having to decide to shoot or not. "I'm free!" The soldier in front of him raised his arms to the air. 

The fighting was over in five minutes. Colonel MacTaggert's men had managed to approach the elevator coming from a direction that obscured the alien's line of fire and had used grenades to blow the aliens inside into pieces. They had then taken out the aliens that dared to come near the large lift inside, while Illyuschenko had received reinforcements and had managed to locate and destroy the bridge of the craft. 

Afterwards, the remaining alien seemed to have lost their moral and had been killed more easily, although the psi-attacks continued to wreck havoc amongst X-Com personnel. 

Illyuschenko was standing in the middle of the control room, leaning against an alien violet console that had stopped functioning when MacTaggert entered it. Taking out his helmet, the Scotsman scrubbed his brown hair before speaking. 

"Commander, this whole thing is a treasure of alien gadgets. The techs are saying that we have here enough materials to built two or three craft of our own, not to mention the Elerium to power them". 

Illyuschenko didn't look back at him. "At the price of one platoon killed or injured". 

His voice made MacTaggert preoccupied. "Sir, I know. But we know we can kill them now. You knew how morale was when the troops heard about what happened in Spitzbergen". 

Closing his eyes, Illyuschenko decided to change subject. "Any prisoners?"

"No Commander. We have retrieved a number of bodies, including a nearly intact alien tank that went down after we started to use laser fire on it from a long distance". He nearly stopped when he saw that Illyuschenko was simply staring at the alien monitors built into the walls of the bridge. 

June 24th, 2001

Area 51, Nevada, US

The darkened hangar's overhead lights had been turned off, and the Moon glow that entered from the windows bathed the parked planes inside with a bluish light. Moving nervously into the building and towards the craft, Williams tried not to look suspicious as he approached a pair of security troopers who were walking inside with their laser rifles hung from their shoulders and holding flashlights on their hands. 

For a moment the guards eyed him very carefully, scanning his figure until they sight centered on the badge identifying him as a member of the intelligence branch. 

"Good evening". Williams said, almost casually. 

The guards saluted him as he moved into a more lightened portion of the hangar, revealing his officer's insignia on the shoulder patches of his suit. But they quickly reverted into an alert status and one of them asked: "Good evening sir. May I ask what you are doing here?"

"Well," he started thinking for an excuse for his presence. "The soda machine on F section has run out of coffee and I heard that there was still some left on the one close to the pilot's ready room". 

The guard kept a stern look at him. "And I also wanted to take a chance into seeing one of those things, soldier". He pointed at the parked Lightning at the distance. "Down there you talk a lot about them but we hardly have the chance to see one. I won't touch anything". 

Both men looked at one another and they grinned afterwards. "Go right ahead sir. The techs are done with it for today and have locked it, so it's quite harmless". Williams nodded and thanked both guards. 

As he started to move away from them one of them suddenly said: "Sir!" He quietly turned around. 

"Please, don't hoard all the soda. Sometimes we also go there". Flashing a thumbs-up he resumed his pace and the guards kept their patrol.

However, as he moved down the row of parked craft, he stopped by a Skyranger and checked to see if the guards were away. Satisfied he walked along the fuselage until he reached the door that gave the pilots access to the inside. It immediately opened when he came next to it and a pair of arms helped him get inside. 

"We're all here". Davis' voice came from his left, telling him that it had been the former FBI subdirector had been the one who had helped him. Looking of the cargo area of the plane, he saw Johnson waiting and seated. 

"We could just have this meeting in my office, you know?" The Colonel's voice showed displeasure. "And we should have waited for Robinson's arrival from Mother One. Whatever you want to talk about he would need to know".

"I don't want Robinson to know about what we are going to talk here".

"The conspirators responsible for Area 19 and the alien base on New Mexico and that tried to kill you". 

"Exactly. I've been thinking about the past events that brought me here". 

"You're not the only one. Robinson has asked me a whole of questions also about what happened to you". Davis interposed. "I told him that most likely you were on the wrong location at the wrong time but he didn't believe me".

"I wouldn't either, unless I had seen some very disturbing things myself from the beginning". Johnson added to the other man's thoughts. "Still you must have a pretty good reason to require he isn't informed on the whole scheme. You don't trust him?"

That made Williams thought for one second although he already knew the answer. "I do and the same goes for Illyuschenko. Without both of them the organization would have fallen apart by now". 

"And the Secretary-General?"

"Most likely yes, but in his case it's different. Bomaka has no real power besides the one the Council and the UN allow him". 

"So why can't our leaders be informed of this threat?"

"Right now my actions have made me a liability to the people who are secretly aiding the aliens. I suspect that X-Com was always seen as an organization that could be manipulated by those same individuals. The attacks on our bases that you we are seeing could have been done two years ago, when we didn't had any proper defenses". 

"I fail to see your point Williams". 

"If Robinson or Illyuschenko or even Bomaka knew about this, they would most surely act or think accordingly. For instance, the Council now seems as the more logical place to be infiltrated. A change of political or military approach regarding a number of nations would surely be noticed". 

"Williams, wake up, this is a fight to the death already. Doesn't matter at this point if they discover that there's another enemy still hidden". 

"Wrong Colonel. We are fighting for time right now. The necessary time to find and strike at the alien base and destroy their leadership. And it's crucial that we pretend to keep playing to their tunes like we have done since the beginning". 

The statement puzzled Johnson. "Excuse me? You are telling me we have been manipulated the whole time? If they are acting with the aliens what interest could we possibly have?"

"I don't know, but ask yourself. Why would someone get me out of that sinking car and replace me with a clone? Or why would they give Dr. Mantell the plans for the laser weapons when we needed them the most to have a chance against the aliens?"

"Holy Jesus". Johnson closed his eyes. "You really conspire too much Williams. I think the whole matter of your attempted murder has gotten you paranoid. Next you are going to tell me that Vaughn is also a part of this". 

His silence momentarily replied to Johnson's query but then he shook his head. "I don't know. Either he's just being manipulated like the rest of us or it's what you just said. In any case his actions have surely damaged us". 

"You're a full case of contradictions".

"I don't think this alien invasion is as simple as any previous war".

"War is never simple". Johnson countered back. 

"Point granted. In any case my advice to us all is to keep playing along".

"What if they try to kill you or me again?" Davis asked. "We are both liabilities now".

"Not yet Davis. Somebody is still watching us, using us for its own hidden purpose. And we should be more careful now more than ever. Besides the three of us, I really don't trust anyone else inside X-Com. This whole organization has more security holes on it than a Swiss cheese. The only thing we don't know yet is how deep they fully know our plans". 

__

André Galvão, 2002


	28. Chaos

X-Com – The Unknown Menace

Chapter Twenty-Seven – Chaos

July 21st, 2001

Mother One, Black Forest, Germany

"What do you think Eva?" Pierre Lejeune's voice distracted Eva Johannes from the sight of the black painted craft that she was seeing in the main hangar of the European base. Turning away from it, she looked at the French scientist and thought that he looked as a child that just had got a new toy to play. 

But there was nothing innocent about the plane next to them that had two thirds of the length of a Boeing 737. It had been spawned from the production line at the weapons and aircraft factory at Complex YY-18, X-Com's base in Japan. And it had just taken less than two hours to cover nearly halfway across the world on its way to Mother One, in a journey that most people would consider as impossible with the current technology. That is, if one refused to believe that extraterrestrial life forms existed and that they were already on Earth. 

To all members of the Scientific Bureau of X-Com based at Mother One, the craft that now was landed on the subterranean hangar was more of a legend that had became true. Their boss, the also French Dr. Chevereux, had fed them all impossible dreams of a human-built spacecraft based on the findings that they had extracted from the retrieved alien technology. 

At the beginning most people had the same reaction as the physicians recruited to built the A-bomb on the Manhattan Project probably had: skepticism about the feasibility of the idea. If then they had heard of the time scale that the project would take, they would probably have pure and simply laughed, dismissing it. 

However, Chevereux's vision now unfolded before their eyes. It had taken more than two years of full-time research and some serious teamwork involving nearly twenty research facilities scattered by the globe. And not to mention the dozens of troopers that had died as they fought to capture downed and landed UFOs. 

Whoever had designed it had tried to give a deadly appearance to a boxy shape. Its main body, a rectangular shaped section, nearly one hundred and fifty feet in length, rested upon a landing gear that was retractable for atmospheric operations. Inside, a specially designed Elerium engine powered the craft to a maximum of fifty-four hundred miles per hour in the Earth's atmosphere. It could also be used to maneuver the craft in Earth's atmosphere but details for that flight profile were classified. And its cargo bay could hold twenty-six fully armored and equipped troopers, allowing it to deploy two platoons of X-Com's infantry to anywhere in the world in less than two hours. 

Connected to it there was a smaller cockpit area capable of housing comfortably the two-man crew that piloted the craft through the use of the control systems developed using alien technology. And from the front of the craft antennae and sensor pods stood out, giving it a sleek appearance. Finally, from both sides of the central body two small wings sprouted out currently empty. 

She had been looking at those and she now turned to Pierre, pointing at them. "Are you sure that you gave the right data to the engineers? Those things look too frail to stand the weight of the launchers".

"Probably it's from the reinforced armor that they used all over the rest of the plane. But we should know when they start the evaluation and firing tests". She still wasn't convinced. The scientist team at Mother One had been tasked months ago to develop a weapon system similar to the personal blaster launchers to mount on advanced X-Com aircraft. Combining the basic principles of nuclear weapons and Elerium detonation. After running a number of experiences they had discovered that the E-115 could be used to create a massive gravity wave by coating it with pure carbon, in the form of artificial diamond. The material would contain the matter-antimatter reaction for a fraction of a microsecond, before its crystalline structure would collapse under the immense force that it had concentrated for that time. 

The front of the ball-shaped projectile would then release the wave, which would crush anything. Or at least anything that man had built. In one of the firing tests a Firestorm had been equipped with the fusion ball launcher and launched a round at an old cruiser vessel of the British Navy that had been towed to the North Sea. When the submarine robot reached the sunken wreck its cameras showed that the vessel had simply been sandwiched into a five thousand tons plate that had quickly sunk into the bottom of the ocean. 

The weapon worked, but they had developed it to be placed inside a craft, not on weapon pods outside. They would still need to work in that area since the original specifications had stated that it would be carried by a craft specially designed for it. It had turned the other way around. "Here comes Dr. Chevereux and the Commander". Both Johannes and Lejeune watched as a small group of men approached the craft and stood fifty feet away from it. 

"So this is the half-breed we all have been eagerly expecting". Illyuschenko was looking at the craft with a mist of achievement and caution. He and his staff had wanted two separate crafts, a heavy fighter capable of engaging the alien Battleships, something that the current Firestorms lacked, and a heavy transport that would allow X-Com respond quickly to any threat in the world. 

Instead, the Council had only agreed with the development of a new craft that would combine both functions, which lead into some serious doubts if the new Avenger could properly perform both. But, unknown to the Council, the most important capability of the craft was still present: it could operate in deep space and transport troops to Mars. 

"Our Avenger, oui Commander". Chevereux just stood in gaze at the craft, with the look of a proud father. "But this is only the beginning of real space travel to mankind. Soon we will travel to another stars". Illyuschenko dismissed the other man's amazement and pride. "Congratulations Doctor. However, I don't know if this beast will do its work. And, unlike the fat cows we had at the kolkhoze back in Russia, I don't think this one will give out any milk". 

"Commander!" Illyuschenko ignored the other man's indignation with the remark. Moving closer to the craft he looked at X-Com's white circle with a red X insignia painted on the main fuselage. He couldn't understand why they had painted the craft glossy black, since it would make it highly visible on daylight operations. 

Pacing towards the front of the craft, he noticed some lettering underneath the pilot's viewport at the cockpit. When he reached it, he realized that the Japanese engineers had also taken the care of painting the name of the craft: The Avenger. 

The Black Angel of Death, Illyuschenko suddenly realized. It sounded like something mysterious. A bad omen for the aliens since he had learned to trust the mechanical concoctions developed by Chevereux and his people. If the thing worked, then his pilots and soldiers would practice until exhaustion 'til they learned how to use it properly. But he also had the feeling that something bad in general was going to happen.

"Superstitious non-sense". He mumbled to himself before turning to Dr. Chevereux. "Doctor, start the tests at once". Giving it a last look, he felt and surpressed a shiver down his spine. "And try to hurry as much as possible. Area 51 needs to be relieved as soon as possible and I'm going to send it to them as a present". He didn't realize that unconsciously he also wanted to be as far away from the Avenger as possible. 

August 15th, 2001

Alameda, California, US

"That's it!" Major Patterson nearly ripped the earset off his head in frustration. "That tight-up ass Army commander in Alcatraz just forbade us from flying downtown and warned us to leave these facilities or they will send someone to lock us up". 

Johnson sighed as he heard the news. They were both inside the _Avenger_, the craft that had been deployed to Area 51 days ago and had just been immediately pressed into service as the aliens had launched a terrorist attack on San Francisco. The hyperwave detector on the base had tracked the flotilla of UFOs as they moved towards the city and they sent a transmission warning Jackson at the West Virginia base but it had been too late for anyone to mount a proper defense. 

Their messages to the US leadership offering aid to contain the aliens hadn't been even acknowledged. Nevertheless Johnson had decided to deploy to the area to an abandoned Air Force facility to try to give assistance to the US forces. The Avenger and the two Lightnings were now parked close, surrounded by a perimeter of X-Com troops in power armor to guard them against any interference. 

Standing close to it, White also turned to Johnson and added: "I know why he warned us against moving to the city. Major Prescott just called from Area 51 informing that Landon has cracked their latest communications. They just lost control of downtown San Francisco and right now are just trying to contain them in the peninsula".

Moving close to one of the windows built into the fuselage of the craft, Johnson pressed a button and the reinforced armor covering it slid away, showing him the San Francisco Bay. On the other side of the bay, the skyscrapers of the city could be seen, with a reddish glow marking them against the night. "The Golden Gate and Bay bridges have been blocked by Army barricades", White continued speaking, "and Jackson and his team seem to have been cut off somewhere in the Castro neighborhood and are moving to rejoin US forces". 

A pair of Army helicopters moved over the bay, their silhouettes briefly lighted from the fireball of an explosion coming from San Francisco International. It was quickly followed by other blasts and Johnson realized that the planes parked at the airport must have been hit by gunfire.

His impatience and frustration were nearly impossible to endure. "Patterson, White, start monitoring all of the police and military channels to see if we can find us a fight".

Golden Gate Bridge

"Move!" Captain Halloway of the 7th Regiment, USMC, couldn't believe that there were still civilians alive and trying to cross the bridge into the safety of his lines. Placing the megaphone next to his mouth he kept on shouting commands: "Everyone hold your fire! Civilians are coming our way!" His company had been tasked to hold out at the northern end to serve as a tactical reserve while the two other companies from the battalion that had traveled with him from south had entered the city. He hadn't heard from the Major in one hour and he was starting to worry. 

He wondered how they had managed to survive the aliens, as he watched them now racing between the jammed packed cars that had been abandoned and now littered the entire bridge. 

As the first reached his position, he saw that most of them were injured and bleeding from their arms and heads. A young woman reached one of his soldiers and threw a crying child into the troopers' arms. She then collapsed on the ground as the marine dropped his M-16 to catch the infant.

A man on his fifties that seemed to be in shell shock simply kept running past the lines and down the highway, without even stopping at the provisional medical facility that had been deployed hours ago. Looking back at the woman, a corpsman was on his knees simply shaking his head. 

An explosion coming from the other side of the bridge brought his attention back to the conflict. The marine carrying the radio that was standing next to him was trembling as he passed on the receiver to him. 

Picking it up, he heard on the other side. "Golf Bravo, are you still there, over? I repeat, this is Romeo Fifteen. The aliens have started to move across the bridge. We are being fired upon and are….". 

Static suddenly filled the channel and an airborne fireball told Halloway that the helicopter that was watching the other end of the bridge had been shot down. "Everyone assume your positions! The aliens are coming!"

Alameda

When the television crews started to arrive to the main entrance of the abandoned fence and join the policemen already present, Markovitch simply tried to ignore them. Someone in the small crowd that was curiously watching them must have called one of the major networks and she had to worry about the reporters. 

For a moment she wished she had brought one of the psi-amps so that she could use them to make the police disperse the crowd. Four of her troopers were standing by at the entrance carrying stun launchers in case they got too close but the Colonel had given orders to avoid a confrontation at any cost. Already the sight of their power suits had caused angry shouts from the crowd, branding them as aliens, until she had ordered one of her men to remove its helmet and reveal to them that they were human. The local cops also weren't sure to what to do. The sergeant in charge had radioed back the precinct asking for instructions but it seemed that they had other things to worry about. 

For the time they seemed happy to make a security line to contain the civilians, as Markovitch had suggested to the Sergeant. 

One man was standing in front of her talking to one of the law enforcement officers. After a couple of minutes he turned his back on the policeman, who turned his attention to another side. 

Suddenly, she saw the figure speeding past the officer and making a dash towards the entrance. One of her man raised his stun launcher in response. "Captain…." He spoke, waiting for an order. "Hold your fire!" She suddenly called, recognizing the man. Blake!

The soldier kept his weapon as the journalist moved next to them. His face was unshaven and his dark hair a mess, with bloodshot eyes visible behind the glasses that he was wearing. "Who's in charge here? I need to talk to the Colonel!"

"What are you doing here Blake?" Markovitch asked, waving off the soldier. 

He looked surprised for one second that the armored figure in front of him who know his name. "Captain? Captain Markovitch? What's going on around here?" 

She wanted to kick his ass out of the place since the only thing the man would do was to get on their way. "Blake, beat it. We are extremely busy down here". 

"Hey, I'm on your side!" More likely his own side, she thought. "I just flew from Washington to LA and drove for hours to get here. Nobody knows what's really going on inside since there's a major news blackout".

"What do you think? Instead of taking flowers in their hats, the aliens decided to bring plasma weapons in their hands and destroy San Francisco". 

"But why are you still here? You haven't been clearance by the military?" She was about to answer but she realized that she should keep her mouth shut and leave any answers to Johnson. 

He pressed on, seeing her refusal to respond, nearly grabbing her. "Captain, get me to the Colonel please! I need some answers!" _Don't we all?_ Markovitch told herself. 

***********

"Fire at will!" Captain Halloway had been before under attack by enemy armor in Iraq on 1991 but he never had faced the mechanical beasts that were attacking his end of the bridge. Two tanks on legs were walking into his position across the bridge, crushing the jammed cars under their armored feet. 

The things were firing indiscriminately at his direction from barrels located under their red ovoid front. Each green blast would either transform one of the vehicles on the bridge span into a fireball or completely burn a man into cinders. A machine gun emplacement to his right started to cover one of the tanks with heavy-caliber bullets. The rounds failed completely to penetrate the hull of the mechanical monsters and they either felt flat to the floor of the bridge or were deflected. 

Stopping its movement, the alien tank turned its plasma cannons to the emplacement and fired back. A moment later an explosion sent sandbags and pieces of the weapons and the marines manning it flying through the air, followed by the discharge of the ammunition. Halloway dropped to the ground as bullets started to fly everywhere, some of them hitting the other marines on the barricade. 

When the shower of lead ended, he turned to a team of marines that was beneath them, crouched by a Humvee jeep that was still intact. "Get that TOW firing right now!" The soldiers looked upward but hesitated, unwilling to step into the fire. 

"Move it Marines!" The anger of the shout sent both troopers to the back of the Humvee, where a tube launcher stood, its barrel parallel with the top of the vehicle. It was quickly loaded by one of the soldiers while the other manned the guidance position. 

When the missile left the tube, Halloway thought that he could see the guidance wires that controlled the projectile over his head, as it covered the space between them and one of the tanks. But the mirage only lasted for one second, before he dropped into the cover of the abandoned car that they were using in the barricades. 

The TOW guided missile had been developed to penetrate the armor of Soviet battle tanks. Its head consisted of a shaped explosive charge that, upon contact with the tank would spread itself over the surface of the armor before being detonated. The resulting explosion had been designed to crush the plating and allow for some of the blast to penetrate the inner compartments. 

The missile hit one of alien tank's legs before detonating. When the smoke of the blast dissipated, Halloway saw that the machine seemed to have been damaged, since it seemed to be limping. But it was still as deadly as before. 

Turning its plasma cannons in the direction of the weapon that had just hurt it, the alien Sectopod promptly cut down the launcher and one of the Marines manning it with two plasma blasts. The second Marine tried to exit the Humvee but another round of plasma hit him on the side, igniting his combat fatigues. The man simply dropped to the ground from the top of the jeep, giving away a smell of burned flesh and clothing. 

***********

Things were starting to go out of control, Markovitch thought, as she saw an Army truck driving down the road toward their direction. She informed Johnson of their presence and waved off Blake.

"You better get out of here. We might be about to get evicted and my armor stops bullets better than your body". 

His eyes rolled over but suddenly they opened wide. "I think you won't be lonely when leaving!". He pointed to somewhere behind her. "Look!" 

She turned into the direction of the city and saw what he meant. A number of white and yellow large lights could be seen slowly ascending close to the skyscrapers. Graciously they hovered in the air, until suddenly they shot off upwards, quickly becoming nothing more than moving stars against the dark sky. "Johnson!" She called but he had been already alerted and was on the back ramp of the Skyranger, looking at the distant lights in the sky

August 18th, 2001

Area 51, Nevada, US

"Good evening. Today, both Houses of Congress have approved the Kieloff-Ashbury Act, authorizing President Vaughn to take all of the necessary steps regarding the protection of US citizens and interests against any acts of aggression by extraterrestrials or their human allies. 

This measure is one of the latest developments regarding the attack on San Francisco three nights ago. The attack resulted in thousands of casualties and the destruction of the city's downtown and of the Golden Gate Bridge, which was deliberatly blown in order to prevent the aliens to cross to the other side of the peninsula. 

However, even before the voting the measure has already been deeply criticized. To talk about this matter we have here Representatives Roger Wilkes of Colorado, who voted against the act, and Linda Kierloff of Virginia. Honorable Wilkes, we will start with your views on the subject

"Thank you Riley. I believe that Congress should have declared a state of war immediately against those 'aliens' and their allies here on Earth. The reports from the witnesses and the news footage are quite clear: their intentions are clearly hostile. We need to act fast and fully mobilize the country for a war that is looming on the horizon". 

"With all of the respect for my esteemed colleague, I can't possibly agree with those ideas. The White House and NASA have stated a number of times that the aliens are refusing to establish any communications with our government. We can't either know their true intentions or the amount of cooperation that they are receiving from their 'allies'. So far we have only seen isolated incidents and we should not take any aggressive steps that can endanger any attempts of establishing peace between our country and these visitors"

"Mrs. Kierloff, the President has said that our intelligence community has determined that a number of countries are collaborating with the aliens. We can't simply wait for the aliens to extend an olive branch to us. We need to think of the lessons from the past and remember Europe and Hitler in the Munich Peace Talks in 1938". 

"This Act takes that into consideration Mr. Wilkes. President Vaughn now has full authority to deter any further aggressive actions by the extraterrestrials or any nation who wants to have us harmed". 

"But what has the White House done so far since Vaughn announced the existence of aliens? Nothing! Besides criticizing the previous administration's policy, we haven't seen any practical results. And the top-secret unit whose existence was revealed yesterday by the Secretary of Defense did not seemed to do anything in San Francisco". 

"Mr. Wilkes, you mean the Joint Alien Task Force whose departure was recorded by one of our associate stations in California?"

"Exactly Riley. According to the available reports they were kept out of the main fighting. What good is for us that we have such a unit we are not going to use it?"

"They seemed to have some rather impressive hardware: according to military analysts that saw the footage, the armor, weapons and planes were never seen before. Mrs. Ashbury, do you care to comment on that?"

"Not at this time Riley". 

The television image suddenly turned into black as Williams touched the off button on the remote control he was holding on his hand. Next to him, Colonel Robinson looked thoughtful for a second, before swiveling his chair towards Williams. "You know, I always thought that Americans had a touch of both ingenuity and madness on them. Seeing this makes me think that I have made an underestimate". 

Williams' mouth contorted before agreeing. "Wilkes got elected into Congress because of his anti-alien rhetoric and after his district suffered a significant number of cow mutilations. He probably haven't been informed about X-Com yet".

"There are some weird ironies in life. According to them, we are a part of the US military. They just plainly ignored the fact that several witnesses saw that Johnson's team was clearly evicted from the installation were they had landed". 

"Yes, but at least as long as we are mistaken by the official alien team headed by Jackson can serve to hide our identities". 

"Another one of your black and white cover-ups, although this one was quiet unplanned". Williams nodded to the comment. In the US military machine there had been a number of top secret planes that had been designed using a mix of white and black projects. The white project would be the public face of the technology, usually an experimental plane operated by NASA or a less conspicuous agency. But at the same time a hidden "black" project would also be running under total secrecy to put the same military technology into practical use. 

"We'll Jackson get all of the credit, although I think some might be sore about it. Still, we are still better off without any publicity". 

"I'm curious: what does your journalist friend think about all of this?"

"Nothing. He has agreed to keep his mouth shut for the moment about X-Com or Area 51".

"How did you managed that?"

"Johnson promised to him on San Francisco that he would give a full interview when the time was right". 

"Which might not be too far away. I do not believe either your President or we can keep our existence a secret for much longer. Everyone else already knows about it". 

"There would be a lot of political and military careers at stake in Washington if the truth came out. I think for now it's in everyone's best interest to maintain it this way". 

"And in ours also. You do know we have been declared an illegal organization in a number of countries and that our personnel are to be considered armed and dangerous? Their law enforcement agencies and military have orders to use deadly force in case they encounter us". 

"I guess I will just have to tell my wife that the trip we wanted to make to Italy is out of the question now". 

September 25th, 2001

Area 51, Nevada, US

Moving over the intelligence estimates piled up upon his desk, Williams wished that the bad news wouldn't end. There were strong indications that Canada was about to join the alien's side since a number of suspicious flyovers had been recently detected. He was dreading for the next Council meeting, scheduled to begin in five days, since it seemed that it might confirm the prediction written on the piece of paper in front of him. 

His computer beeped once, distracting him from his work and making him turn to the monitor. He found an invoice symbol indicating that he had just received an email and he double clicked on it to read it. 

When the message popped up on his monitor, he found it strange that it didn't had the identity of the sender. It made him immediately thought that it was something coming out of Mother One or any other base but what he read next froze him into place.

It consisted of a single line: "Please take steps to assure your physical integrity today. A friend". 

"What?" His question made everyone else in the room turn back and look at him. 

**********

At the same time, on another side of the base, another message was also being typed.

"X-COM – TOP SECRET

Report Number: ______________________

Author:Dr. Young, Xenobiology Dpt., Area 19

To: Cmdr. Illyuschenko, Commanding Officer

Col. Robinson,Intelligence Bureau Chief

Dr. ChevereuxScientific Bureau Chief

Subject: Analysis of Alien Reproduction and possible uses of the technology

The analysis of the cloning chambers retrieved from the captured alien Supply Ships confirm the suspicions already formulated in Dr. Mantell's original report on the Sectoid species. The presence of undeveloped alien fetuses on the chambers confirm that the sustainability of their species rely on laboratory assisted reproduction. 

DNA samples taken from a number of Sectoid bodies give further proof of this claim. As it is possible to see in the appropriate appendix, the DNA is restricted to about twenty genoprints, pointing that the Sectoids that we have encountered seem to be all clones of that number of original members of the species. 

Those twenty genetic lines range from the most basic trooper to the leader captured in New Mexico and there are some particular lines that we haven't been able to match with their social position inside the Hierarchy. Most likely they correspond to social niches not yet determined upon their hive-like society. 

Our testing process here at Area 51 has also proven that the new race encountered, the so-called 'Ethereals', since they haven't been assigned yet a proper scientific name, also use this process for their own reproduction. However, the DNA samples taken from the available bodies have surprisingly shown that the genetic lines are less diversified than the ones of the Sectoids. 

While this can be attributed to our general lack of knowledge towards these species and the few bodies recovered, it is also possible that their DNA has become more stable, allowing them to focus on the growth of a selected number of 'safe' genetic lines. 

We have found no indication yet that the technology is behind used for the cloning of the species called 'Muton', 'Snakemen' or 'Floater'. However, the process could certainly be used in large scale reproduction of these species, allowing the aliens to field an impressive army in short notice. 

Moreover, there are clear indications that the chambers can be used to grow humans or" Young stopped for one second as he realized the implications for himself of what he was about to write. "alien-human hybrids. On the former case it seems the most logical choice for reproduction, due to our biological assumptions regarding mating between different species. Most of the offspring born from such crossings are infertile and are thus unable to propagate the new specie, although our research work on the alien's biology has shown results that defy some of the major biological paradigms. 

But in relation to Homo sapiens, our preliminary work using human ova has shown that the multiplying rates of cell division experience during the initial weeks on the uterus can be maintained through the use of such chambers. Which has leaded us to speculate that it might be possible to grown a full-sized individual in weeks using human DNA. 

Such an experiment brings up ethical questions that can only be decided upon by the Council or any high-ranking leadership. However, this possibility can't simply be ignored. 

With the high attrition rates being experienced by our combat forces and the time it takes to replace them with properly trained personnel, this technology could give us a way to face personnel shortages. 

The increase of alien activity and the possibility of an alien invasion should give us enough reasons to continue our work on this area. But in that event, there are also a number of possibilities that must be considered, namely the time that would take for the training and the possible emotional unbalances coming from such an upbringing, since human growth is based upon societal experiences. 

My most immediate recommendation would be for DNA samples be taken from our best combat personnel and stored…"

A loud warning klaxon made Young turn his head away from the monitor. Moving his right hand to pick the phone, he dialed the number of the desk officer. When the call came through he asked on the receiver. "Lieutenant, what's going on?"

"Doctor, please stay in your office and wait for further instructions". His voice showed apprehension. "The Colonel just informed us that the aliens are about to attack the base". 

**********

The UFOs flight paths were marked on red on Area 51's control headquarters, looking like the spokes of a wheel, with the center right on Nevada. They all showed the same marker: "ETHREAL/RETALTN/NAMERCA".

When Johnson saw the air defense board again, after a quick trip to get on his power suit, he grimaced as he noticed the additional red dots that had been detected while he was away. They now had three confirmed alien Battleships plus the same number of smaller ships all heading towards Area 51. A timer in front of him showed the time before the aliens would arrive: less than five minutes now remained. 

"Major, what's the status?" Prescott turned from talking to a technician at the sound of his voice and moved to join him. He was clad in full blue armor and wearing a laser pistol as a sidearm. "All of the planes and men here have been moved underground. We managed to get two Skyrangers out of Papoose before we had to shut down the evacuation flights". 

"Who's still there?" 

"Two platoons of security troops and a number of personnel that we just didn't had time to evacuate". With nothing more than body armor and laser weapons to defend themselves, Johnson concluded with a shiver. "Any HWPs in the area?"

"Two, but they are of the old type, only equipped with lasers. The plasma hovercrafts are here and ready. They are overhead with the combat troops". A flashing sound told both of them that there wasn't much time left. Looking at the board, Prescott said. "Base defenses are about to be activated". 

**********

Sliding doors had opened the hill overlooking the dry lakebed on which Area 51's runway and buildings had been constructed. Close to the top of the elevation, they revealed three chambers built on its side, from where gun barrels were poking out at the sky. 

Moving on their mounts the weapons started to search for their targets on the dark horizon, patiently waiting until the alien crafts had reached optimal range. Finally, when the UFOs were at a distance of fifteen miles, a pair of plasma cannons discharged their destructive power. The high-energy particles traveled swiftly over the hangars of the base, briefly revealing the concealed troopers dug out between the buildings. 

Leaning against one hangar's wall, Major Patterson traced their path with the sight on his helmet as the round hit one of the two Battleships that were approaching the base. The energy of the plasma engulfed the side of the UFO and made the craft visible in the night sky. The craft faltered for one second but it kept its course.

And flying right into the course of the rounds fired by the two remaining base defenses. Another pair of plasma balls three feet in diameter hit the Battleship, carving through one of its legs and breaching the armor. As some of the high-energy particles reached the inside of the UFO they vaporized one unlucky alien that was standing next to one of the craft's engines. They also reached the Elerium stored inside the engine, igniting it on an uncontrolled reaction that nearly blew off the compartment from the main section. 

But it was the fusion ball launchers that made the worst damage. A larger version of the ones developed for the Avenger spacecraft by the scientists at Mother One, they traded range for firepower. The two carbon-laced Elerium balls glowed fiercely in the dark as the diamond cover reflected the light of the previous explosions, before they added doom to the alien craft. 

The force of the gravity wave created by their detonation crushed the hull of the Battleship and some of its internal structures. One of those was the bridge and all of the aliens inside. Devoid of any control, the craft started spiraling down towards the ground, as the loss of one engine and no subsequent compensation by the others made it unbalanced. 

The closest squad of X-Com troopers found themselves a bit heavier for one moment as the gravity wave from the fusion balls' detonation moved past them. It also sent tremors across the buildings, making windows tremble and opening a couple of fissures on the hardened parts of the runway. A loud blast was heard a few seconds afterwards, as the Battleship crashed into the ground and exploded. Cheers followed it from the troops in the general channel.

"Command, one UFO down". Patterson reported, still seeing the shapes of another Battleship plus two other large craft approaching the base. They were already less than five miles from the base and there wouldn't be any time for the weapons to recharge and fire again. 

"Tell everybody to get into cover". The voice of Johnson replied. "The aliens are about to get a surprise". 

As the three remaining alien ships got to one mile of the base they started slowing down and making their descents to deploy the troops inside them. The troopers braced themselves for the assault that was about to come. 

Suddenly Patterson felt as if a major weight had been put upon him, an invisible hand that made it impossible to stand, despite of the additional strength provided by the power suit that he was wearing. He found it impossible to withstand and felt to the ground, with the rest of the troopers nearby him. 

Thinking that the aliens must be deploying a new type of weapon, he looked upwards into the direction of the UFOs. Only to see something that made every human present on the surface to open their mouths in amazement. The three crafts all of the sudden simply bounced upwards as if they had hit a safety net on their descent. 

They climbed more than a hundred of feet before the alien pilots got the motion corrected. Then, as they started to race down again, the base defenses fired again, destroying one of the smaller craft and crippling the other. 

The airborne explosion sent metal fragments raining down the base, filling the area with crashing noises as they hit the buildings and the troops close by. Patterson found that the increased weight had disappeared. "Command what was that?!!" He was dumbfounded by what he had just seen.

***************

Everyone inside the operations center of the base was closely watching the results of the second volley fired by the weapons. Turning away from the screen that was displaying the images caught by the outside cameras, Johnson felt relief. The gravity shield had worked in repulsing the alien craft for the seconds necessary for the base's defenses to reload and fire back. Buried close to the main runway, .it created a gravity 'bubble' on the area above the ground that couldn't be breached by vessels above a certain mass for a brief period of time. 

"Papoose reports that their UFOs have landed and are deploying their troops. They are encountering a mix of Mutons and of the alien tanks, the 'Sectopods'. The Army forces in the area are providing assistance". Johnson looked back at Prescott. 

That struck Johnson as odd, since alien species had never performed joint operations. "Any Ethereals in the area?"

Prescott's face turned grim for one second. "They have just gone off the air". 

****************

Corporal King and the rest of Omega squad had occupied the observation level of the deserted control tower that stood in the close to the western main runway. One of the alien craft, a Terror Ship, had landed between that runway and its parallel eastern one. They could see now the access doors on each end of the craft illuminated as light from the ship' inside. 

Below them, the men and women of Fourth and Sixth Platoons were starting to engage the aliens as they rushed out of the UFO and fired back. So far four Sectopods had deployed from the ship, along with nearly the triple of that number of Mutons. And there were also some Ethereals, although it seemed that they preferred to stay inside the ship. King and Omega had been tasked into bringing them down, but the aliens only popped into sight but a brief number of seconds before vanishing again. 

The fire of the X-Com soldiers was slowing down the green aliens' advance but the Sectopods were proving themselves impossible to stop. Their speed made them difficult to target even by the soldiers holding blaster launchers, the only weapon that seemed to make a dent into their thick hull. Looking through the corner of his eye, King saw one of them taking several heavy plasma hits into its ovoid shape but moving scathed as if they had no effect. 

The alien tank simply raced on its massive legs and approached the position of the soldiers who were trying to take it down. One of them tried to move away on his flying suit but he was too late: the Sectopod' shots found him as he had started to leave the ground, killing him. The second trooper managed to keep his courage and fired back at the metal monster with his laser rifle, the red bolts hitting in a number of locations. 

The machine staggered, to King's surprise and he turned to see better the tragedy below him. The soldier was on his knees, still pointing the laser rifle at the Sectopod who had now turned to face him. They fired at the same time.

King grimaced as he saw the soldier dropping to the ground. Then, much to his astonishment, the alien tank also came crashing down, hitting the hardened surface of the runway with the front of his armored carapace. 

Next to him, Rumpole shouted. "King!" She turned to him and her voice showed consternation. "What are you doing? You had a clear shot at that Ethereal!" 

"Hold on. Just checking something". Slowly moving his Mk VI improved heavy laser along the edge of the open glass window, he caught one of the Sectopods on his sight. Aiming towards the back of the alien machine, he fired a single laser shot at the junction between its body and leg. 

When the golden light hit the Sectopod precisely at the place that he had targeted, the leg of the machine stiffened. The speed of the tank considerably slowed as it started limping towards the X-Com line. However it's attention was elsewhere than the troopers on their hastily dug foxholes. Scanning for the origin of the shot that had just hurt it, the plasma cannons of the Sectopod moved upwards in the direction of the control tower. 

Switching the heavy laser into full automatic mode, King quickly fired again at the tank before it could respond. The first shot hit it squarely on one of the red eyes, burning its inside and ruining the machine's aim. The plasma round that it fired in response went wide off the tower, the energy bleeding harmlessly into the atmosphere after it had illuminated the inside of the room where the members of Omega were standing. 

The Sectopod never had a chance of trying to correct its aim since the following shots from King managed to burn through the armor, destroying the circuits that controlled it and leaving only an dead mass of alien metal on the runway. 

**************

Up in the northern hangar area, First Platoon was on the process of retreating from their positions after the aliens from the Battleship had launched a vicious attack. Rodriguez and Jones were racing down the space between two hangars, as they had been ordered by Major Patterson to fall back to the second line of defense. 

One of the new hovertanks had been posted to them to provide fire support. The machine used an Elerium engine to be able to move faster that by threads and it also could fly, with a plasma cannon mounted on its top. None of that had mattered in stopping the alien horde, and its burned hulk was now releasing smoke as it tried to cover their retreat. 

As they reached halfway of the distance both of them stopped and dropped to the ground, covering the retreat of Pershing and the Captain, who now had left their positions and were running into their direction. A pair of Mutons appeared seconds afterwards, only to be greeted by plasma fire. 

Firing his plasma rifle to keep the aliens under cover, Rodriguez saw Pershing suddenly stopping on his stride towards him and start to point his heavy plasma upwards. 

The warning only came afterward he had jumped to his side. An Ethereal had just popped on the roof of the hangar, in no doubt using its flying ability to surprise the X-Com soldiers. A black spot suddenly appeared on the ground where Rodriguez had just been standing, as the alien fired its plasma weapon, missing the trooper by inches. The shots from Pershing made the Ethereal scream in pain before it dropped off the edge of the roof. 

Alpha must have already completely withdrawn from our flank, Rodriguez realized. Then, the four men all started running down towards the end of the hangars before the aliens could encircle them. 

****************

"This is it". The lieutenant in charge of the last line of defense had a bloody rag around his left arm and his hair looked burned. The aliens had already overrun the upper levels of Area 19, crushing through the security troopers. The remaining humans had barricaded themselves in the subterranean levels. 

Young looked around to the impromptu barricade that had been made using metal desks and chairs. Less than a dozen of Theta security troopers remained, armed with laser pistols and rifles. The rest of the guards were posted on the emergency stairs, which had been blocked although that would just slow down the aliens a couple of minutes. All of the three corridors that lead into the elevators had been blocked and they were now waiting for the aliens to got down the shaft into their direction. Holding a laser rifle on one hand, the officer reached Young. "Either we hold them out here or we're as good as dead". 

Young realized that the bravado that the officer was putting was more meant for the others to hear. There was no way that they could hold out the aliens after they had already failed to hold one in the upper levels. Reaching for the holster on his belt, the officer drew out a laser pistol and passed it to Young. "Wait until I give the order". Then he moved towards another corridor to check the remaining barricades. 

*************

Omega squad had managed to take two other Sectopods down using King's discovery about the effects of laser weapons upon the aliens. King was on the process of targeting the third alien tank when the floor between him suddenly shook, spoiling his aim. A loud wrecking sound started to be heard and Deschamps voice was heard. "Merde! They just hit the tower with a blaster. They know where we are!"

That sent the four-squad members racing towards the stairs that lead into the ground. But as Rumpole opened the door, she immediately stopped her race. Ahead of her the explosion had wrecked the side of the tower underneath and also the flight of stairs. "The balcony! Quickly!" King called. 

The tower was already starting to collapse as they reached the door on the side of the tower that faced the buildings. With a punch of his metal glove Deschamps broke the reinforced glass of the door and they all rushed outwards. 

Climbing over the metal railing, one by one the X-Com soldiers threw themselves into the air, activating the flight controls on their suits to control their falls. King barely had cleared the balcony when the tower finally collapsed from the damage it had suffered from the blaster round with the upper levels falling into the ground, including the room where they had just been. 

**************

The soldiers of First Platoon had just cleared the area of the hangars, with the aliens on hot pursuit. Looking around as he continued to run towards the main administration buildings, Rodriguez saw that some of his comrades had been hit and were being helped by other soldiers. 

All of them were racing across two hundred yards of open ground; most of it filled with dirt and sparse vegetation. Then Rodriguez noticed something that shocked him. "Where are Second and Third Platoons?" His call went unanswered and he realized that the situation must have gone sour if their backup was missing. They found fallback line unmanned as they reached the buildings. "Something is fucked up here, man!" Jones voice was his only reply. 

The aliens had begun to move across the open space, with two Sectopods as spearheads, followed by Mutons brandishing heavy plasmas and Ethereals holding blaster launchers. Their numbers and firepower overwhelmed the platoon of X-Com soldiers now posed between them and the entrance to the subterranean levels. 

Then a radio call was suddenly heard on the radio. "Fire at will!" Rodriguez realized that moment where Second and Third platoons were as plasma and laser fire started to hit the aliens coming from his left and right sides. Major Patterson had set an ambush, using the First as bait and moving the other two platoons to the sides of the route the aliens would take. Smiling to himself, Rodriguez started firing. 

September 30th, 2001

Area 51, Nevada, US

The base infirmary was overfilled with the smell of antiseptic and the silent pain of the men and women that had been injured in the aliens' attack. Moving down a row of beds all full Johnson stopped by one, whose occupant was awake. "How are you doing Mike?"

Major Patterson had been gravely injured in the attack. He raised one hand to him but quickly put it down. "Great sir, although I can't pretty much move myself in this bed. But the nurses are nice and the food isn't that bad". 

A white bandage was wrapped around right side of his head. Johnson had been told that Hunt had lost one of his ears when shrapnel from a blaster bomb had ripped through his helmet. 

"I'm sorry about what happened, Mike. The doctors told me that as soon as your face heals they will conduct reconstructive surgery to give you back an new ear". 

"I don't think I will have time for it now. Maybe when this whole thing is over". Johnson felt uncomfortable but Patterson raised a hand to stop it. "Colonel…Erwin, I appreciate the concern but please don't worry about me. For the moment I can live with this". Changing the subject, he asked: "I heard that Papoose got hit hard". 

Johnson winced. "You better say that the area is now a complete loss. The aliens wrecked most of the facilities after they broke through the defense perimeter. There were no survivors". 

"Ouch. But we are still OK to fight aren't we?"

"Yeah, they didn't do much damage here on Groom. And we were on the process of transferring most of the equipment from Papoose to here". 

"How many died there?"

"Close to eighty men and women. Mostly from Theta security but some also from the Scientific Bureau". Hunt closed his eyes. "And here?" 

"We got off light. The ground level buildings and hangars took some damage but the aliens were crushed before they could get to the levels before the surface". 

"Good". Looking around on his bed he seemed assured. "You know, I can't think of any other place where I would feel more secure on this planet, if that is possible. Let the aliens or the Army try to get us again here". 

Johnson shook his head. "Just get some rest". Dismissing himself he headed back towards the main operations exit. But as he was about to reach the door, one of the medical staff approached him. "Colonel, can I have a word with you please?"

The nametag on the chest of man's green vest read: "Porter". 

"Anything wrong Doctor?" The man's expression grew more anxious and his voice grew into a whisper. "I was one of Billings, I mean Young's 'friends' here at the base". 

__

One of the hybrids. Looking better at the man he noticed the scant on his eyes and also the rim of the contact lenses that covered his violet irises. He hadn't had time yet to deal with the hybrids after Young had been presumably killed in Papoose. Like many others, his body hadn't been identified but there a number of burned remains had been recovered. 

"We better probably talk somewhere else". The hybrid nodded and led him into a supply room. After they entered and the door was locked, Porter begun. "Colonel, I don't know if you are aware but the majority of us was killed in the attack". 

Of course, Johnson thought. The hybrids had been deliberately placed on Papoose from the time of their discovery to prevent that any human detected their true nature. "I'm sorry to hear that. I've learn to respect Dr. Young and your contributions, no matter how strange this whole matter seemed". 

"I believe you Colonel. Young also told us that we could trust you to fulfill your part of the agreement. There are only six of us left now here on the base but we will still help as much as we possibly can. The ones who died were part of the only family I've ever had on Earth". 

Johnson could understand it. The hybrids had no place in human society if they ever were discovered and their nature made them avoid social contact with humans to avoid any possibility of their presence ever being perceived. "What do you wanted to talk to me about?"

"Two days ago the remainder of us got together to remember the ones that died. We then decided that we want to do more against the aliens". His voice was determined. 

"Just keep on doing your work to the best of your abilities". 

Porter moved uneasy. "But we suspect that we can do more Colonel. There were rumors among us of our mental abilities when Young tested some of us. He always dismissed then but he never showed us the results". 

"Use of psionics has been discarded by High Command because of the damage done to the brain. Their use now highly restricted". Johnson dismissed the possibility. 

"To the _human _brain, Colonel". Making a pause he then continued. "And the commanding officer can allow for psis to be used if there are volunteers for the mission. We have all taken the same decision: we are all willing to undertake psi training and participate in combat missions if you need us". Johnson looked at him, without knowing what to do. 

October 25th, 2001

Mars's Orbit

Small as a grain of sand against the orange and brown globe that now filled most of the navigational camera, the car sized man-made probe had finally reached its destination. It had taken months to cross the 78 million kilometers that separated Earth from Mars, after being launched by the NASA facility at Cape Canaveral.

NASA had given it the name of Mars Odyssey, the same of the Greek epic written by Homer almost three thousand years ago narrating the journeys of Ulysses on his plight to return home after the conquest of Troy. Its mission was to study the radiation of Mars and perform a survey of any possible water signs, using a multitude of instruments placed onboard the probe. 

It had also been designed to test a new form of braking when approaching a planet. Called aerobraking, the technique consisted of using the Martian atmosphere to slow the probe's approach speed, allowing it to be captured by the planet's gravity. The process had been designed with an eye on saving the Odyssey's precious fuel supply, allowing it to stay more time in Mars' orbit.

However, despite of all of the theoretical calculations made by the flight engineers, the flight control personnel back at Earth still had to fear two possibilities that could endanger the mission. One was that the craft wouldn't slow down enough and would fly past Mars into the void of space. The second was that the approach vector would be too steep, making it burn into cinders as the result of too much friction of the probe with the planet's atmosphere. 

The Odyssey had just reached Mars the day before and flight control was now busy in giving the instructions for it to successfully perform its aerobraking. Since it took eight minutes for the radio commands to reach the probe, they had to plan carefully each maneuver by the Odyssey, since any mistake would be too late to correct. 

However, although they had taken every possible failsafe to avoid any of the two possibilities mentioned earlier, they could do nothing about a third one that they never had considered. So, when the probe failed to respond to any radio instructions from flight control a lot of minds went into complete puzzlement and spent the next days trying to determine what had went wrong. Like Ulysses on the epic that was its namesake, the Odyssey had simply disappeared. 

October 29th, 2001

MacMurdo Station, Antartica

The young officer in charge of communications during the night shift at the control center of the largest American facility in the polar continent of Antartica was bored to death. He had wondered several times during the past weeks of what had gotten into him to accept being posted at what was called 'the bottom of the world', as one poster in the habitation area said it.

There simply wasn't anything to do, besides receiving the regular check transmission back from the States and replying that everything was fine. Yeah, we are stuck on our butts on ice, snow and gusty winds that would kill you out in the open. How about you back there?

Some of the other personnel had told him that summer or what passed as it on this place was about to come. He had wondered if it was a joke or if it actually would be any improvement on the atmospheric conditions. Hell, even Siberia had to be nicer than this. The temperature would be constantly several dozen degrees below the water icing point. And to even get to work he would have to put on several layers of garments, designed to keep hypothermia away.

The boredom could be attenuated if there were any ladies around but even there he had struck out of luck. All the women at the station either were married to somebody else or they would confine themselves to a few exchange of words. Well at least I remembered to bring TDC3 along, he sighed and decided to go back to the computer screen and play a little to kill a bit of more time. It was his favorite computer game, the latest on a series of strategy games where the player was supposed to be leading the Terran Defense Command, an organization built to defend humanity and Earth from an alien invasion. 

He had first started to play the first game of the series in college and quickly had gotten himself addicted to it, which almost had wrecked havoc on his grades. The third game of the series had just been released and he had managed to purchase a copy, in spite of the computer craze regarding it. The first edition had been sold out in hours, in no doubt due to the fact that it had started to be distributed two days after the alleged alien attack on San Francisco. But he had managed to purchase one before he caught the plane to the Station where he would spend most of his free time playing it. Some of the other personnel had commented that he should join the mysterious force that was supposedly fighting the 'little men from Mars' but he had told them to fuck off. 

He had heard the stories about the mysterious lights in the sky that were going over in the media before he left, together with the state of emergency declared by Vaughn but he didn't believe them to be extraterrestrials for one second. All of that crap only exists here in my computer, he told to himself, as he watched on the screen an alien attack on his troops that caught his full attention. 

A number of mouse clicks activated a number of his reserve units to respond to the new battlefield threat and we anxiously waited for the result of the confrontation. 

Then a large red light started to blink on the radio in front of him. He ignored it for a second until realization of its meaning came to him. The emergency channel? 

Who could possibly be using the emergency channel? He ignored the game running on the laptop in front of him and flicked on the radio, choosing the frequency reserved for it. "MacMurdo here, over".

Static filled the room with noise and nearly got him deaf until he remembered to disconnect the computer from the audio system and turn down the volume. "….Eagle….help us".

Eagle? He thought for a second, trying to remember to which outpost the callsign corresponded. After a second he came to a blank and he decided that it could only be one of the scientific teams out there in the open. He opened the logbook and checked: Eagle mission, a group of scientists somewhere in the middle of the continent doing their gimmicks. He looked at the weather report and saw that the conditions were fairly stable at their location. What was going on?

"Eagle, this is MacMurdo. I'm having problems receiving you. What's the emergency?" The static came back again. "…need help……were there!…..dead….escape….my head….i can feel….no!….inside me!"

"Eagle, I'm not understanding you, please repeat over". There was nothing more than silence on the channel and the officer started to wonder what was going on. Then he remembered the emergency procedure rules received months ago and called for his superior officer. 

__

André Galvão, 2001


	29. Fire and Ice

X-Com – The Unknown Menace

Chapter Twenty-Eight – Fire and Ice

November 4th, 2001

Area 51, Nevada, US

Reaching for the clamp on his chin that secured his helmet to his head, Lt. Colonel Harris unlocked it with a quick movement. He was standing next to a circular sized craft that stood upon its deployed retractable pylons on the fighter hangar of the base. 

Removing the helmet, he passed his available hand over his hair then scratched his chin but refrained from touching the scar on the side of his face. 

"She will be as good as ready by the afternoon sir". Harris grumbled thanks to the Sergeant who was supervising the repairs and rearming of his Firestorm fighter. Still wearing his flight suit and holding the helmet on his left hand, he passed his other hand through the smooth gray skin of the craft over the area where the cockpit was located. 

His eyes gave a brief moment of attention to the rows of small Sectoid heads that marked the number of his kills. Another one would be added later today by the non-commissioned officer, marking the Abductor ship that he had just downed half an hour ago over the jungle of El Salvador. 

He had only used the plasma weapon on the engagement, withholding from using the fusion ball launcher, in the tradition of the fighter pilots, which preferred gun to missile kills. A small cart rolled by, carrying the Elerium necessary to refuel and rearm the Firestorm being pushed by a pair of technicians. He disregarded them and gave one last look at the plane, this time to the words painted in red over the small Sectoid heads: "The X-Terminator".

That had been a recent addition to the plane, although he hadn't been the one behind the idea. It was a fashion shared by most of the combat and maintenance crews, who had started to wear logos in their machines. 

Moving away from the craft with a near indiscernible smile, he started to head towards the pilot's quarters. "Harris!" A voice made him turn towards his left. He saw Clark approaching him, also wearing his flight suit. "Weren't you supposed to be hauling the troops to assault the UFO I've just downed?" He asked the younger pilot went he reached his position. 

"The roster had me to check out the _Challenger._ The Major decided to sent one of the other pilots to log more time on the Avengers". 

"You mean the big fat whales". Harris voice showed contempt for the new craft. 

"Come on, Harris, they are not like that as all. You're just sore because they are only being used for transport missions for the time being, otherwise you'd be gunning for a place on their cockpits".

"I ain't no cab driver". Harris didn't want to admit it but Clark's comment was true. He had dismissed being assigned to the new Avengers because they were only being used for ground assault missions. 

And they needed a new fighter to take on the Battleships who were still buzzing undisturbed, because High Command had forbid the use of Firestorms against them. That gave Harris an itch on the scar on the side of his face that made him want to scratch it. Clark still gave another try. "You don't know what you're missing". 

"I know what I ain't missing". His voice made the other pilot quit as they both walked to the pilot's ready room. 

November 7th, 2001

Mother One, Germany

Every time we seem to beat them, we only discover that they have already moved forward in their invasion, Illyuschenko was considering as he waited for the communications network to connect to all X-Com bases throughout the world. The same in Afeganistan, he remembered, where the bombings and the mass killings only seemed to increase the will of the locals to fight Soviet rule. _And this time we are fighting in our home! _He became amazed to see how little different it was from being called a guerrilla or a freedom fighter. Only this case he was fighting for the guerrillas. And loosing again, he concluded in disgust. _Have we started the road to our final act of desperation, our collective suicide to avoid capture? _He wondered as the computer finished the connections and all of X-Com's regional commanders where facing him, Dr. Chevereux and Colonel Robinson on the electronic wall.

"Good day to all of you gentlemen. Our breakthrough has emerged, it seems and it's the reason for this emergency meeting. Today Colonel Robinson has informed me of the latest intelligence developments and I will ask him now to give to you the same report as he did to me". He nodded to the intelligence chief of X-Com, who turned his white haired head to the screen and started speaking.

"Two weeks ago we started gathering some strange gossips and rumors coming from an US base in Antarctica. We tried to confirm it through several sources, both official and unofficial and have found out that an entire military research team has disappeared in the middle of the continent but not before sending a transmission for help. 

Due to the state of our relations with the US it's impossible to know exactly what has happened out there and the American counterintelligence services are acting particularly efficient in suppressing any evidence. We had no idea of what they might be doing out there, that being until we started to do our own research in Antarctica and found out some most interesting things". The X-Com insignia on the center of the screen was replaced by a black and white image of Antarctica.

"This is a radar image from the continent taken by one of our reconnaissance satellites. And this is what we think the US team was looking for". A smaller portion of Antarctica with the shape of a banana turned blue, standing close to the middle of the continent, slightly off to the right side. "It is an liquid lake trapped under hundreds of feet of ice. For how long it is up to the scientists to decide. The more important is that it was discovered by the Soviets in the 1970's, who built a base close to it. We wondered if the Americans were doing something connected to that base, so we decided to take a magnetic survey to detect the base. But we came up with something even more astounding".

A portion at the southern part of the lake suddenly became lit in red. "A huge magnetic anomaly was discovered covering the southern portion of the lake. The anomaly is so great that there aren't any natural explanations for it, meaning that it can only be an artificial concentration of metals. And it isn't the Russian base, which can only mean that probably the Americans were looking for an alien base. And they found it but lost their lives on the way".

The images of the military men in the computer-generated images suddenly expressed their looks of surprised awe and terror. Illyuschenko knew it also quite well. The sheer size of the base and its location made it into the aliens' primary area of operations on Earth in the event of an invasion. Such a facility could easily resupply and reinforce the alien's forces on the planet, giving them a major tactical advantage and a bridgehead to the planet's invasion. Once it unleashed the deadly power it contained inside the survival of man's civilization could probably be counted in a few weeks time.

The few wrinkles beginning to show on Robinson's eyes and cheeks didn't even moved a millimeter as he kept going on his briefing, apparently untouched by the magnitude of the threat. "As you can see it expands itself for several thousand square miles. Its sheer size has made us wonder if this isn't their ancient forward post on Earth, from where they monitored its condition and development, until a catastrophic climate change locked it and Antarctica in a permanent sheet of ice".

Some of the officers mumbled and one simply asked in disbelief: "A what?!" Robinson looked at Chevereux, who acknowledged it and replied to the question. "There are scientific theories that hold that the magnetic poles of the planet go through periodic shifts, leaving some continents in the midst of ice or deserts, while others thrive with vegetation. Basically this base could be laying in Antarctica for possibly millions of years, since you all have seen the reports about the alien harvest theory". 

And yet another thing to probably bounce some religions off their pedestals, Illyuschenko added. The alien harvest theory was developed after the interrogation of some captured alien pilots. They had claimed that their influence had been crucial in the evolution of life on Earth and ultimately on Man itself. The aliens had managed to do in a few seconds what the Communist Party hadn't been able in decades: to prove that God didn't exist. 

The X-Com Commander remembered then some of the teachings of Marx and Engels and wondered how would they fit the aliens into their material dialecticism and the struggle of the working class. But he was suddenly taken back by the voice of Robinson who continued to use the same tone, exactly the one when the Intelligence Chief of X-Com had personally presented him with this briefing two hours ago. 

"Most likely it can house thousands of aliens and hundreds of UFOs, not to mention the supplies and repair facilities necessary to support such a force. However, some indications have leaded us to assume that it is only partially operational. A radiation scan for tachyon emissions shows that only a fraction of the base's fusion reactors are activated and further data analysis provided by Dr. Chevereux confirmed that the alien activity is restricted to a section of the base. 

Still we would be hard pressed to try to mount a major ground assault on it. Nuclear weapons are a two edged sword: the heat caused by the massive detonations needed and upcoming radiation would melt the polar ice cap, bringing disastrous consequences to Earth's climate and would lead into a massive cooling of the planet, due to the amount of water in the atmosphere and the flooding of heavily populated littoral areas. We would be hard-pressed to survive even if we eliminated the alien menace and we're not even sure if the blast could penetrate the ice enough to reach the base".

Johnson's voice was heard: "Colonel, please wait a minute. We had been told before that the alien's base on the solar system was on Mars. Is this the same base?" Robinson made an almost unseen negative expression and replied: "We don't think so. The inquiries made into captured alien officers had confirmed the Martian lead. We are still unsure of its location, but we can say for sure that it is located there". 

"So what's the bloody point of trying to deal with that monster?" MacTaggert interjected in as soon as he finished. "We should be thinking' of an freakin' way to find out where to strike in the wee planet". Hundreds, probably thousands of ground troops trained and armed would be necessary from a frontal assault on Antarctica, not to mention the attack craft necessary to overcome whatever aerial defenses it might have and that had just been a quick mental calculation made by Illyuschenko. 

"Colonel," Robinson made a short pause until MacTaggert had finished. "A strike there to gain control of the base and disable it would put a serious delay into the aliens' timetable, giving us more time to prepare the forces necessary for the Martian attack you are referring to. 

And another argument could be made into the necessity the Japanese factory has of raw materials for the Avenger assembly line, not to mention the Elerium needed to power the spacecraft to Mars. However, the most pressing argument is the information we need for the Mars attack is somewhere walking around on this base. It is the most logical place for us to find one of their high-ranking officers".

And one of the meanest bastards that ever had set foot on Earth, a monster that never felt any remorse or guilt for his actions. Illyuschenko cringed at the thought. Looks of disbelief and hidden hope where thrown at Robinson, who looked again at Chevereux as several voices expressed questions. The French scientist just continued.

"Until the discovery of the Ethereals we thought that the Sectoids were the predominant species inside the Starspawn, due to their intelligence and mental powers. However, genetic analysis and the battle reports of this new alien race have shown it otherwise. One of the most amazing discoveries was of the similarities between Sectoid and Ethereal DNA. Either one created the other or another species was responsible for their presence in the universe. But more important is the fact that the Ethereals have even a higher status than the Sectoids. Captured aliens shown what seems to be the alien equivalent of terror when interrogated about them and they have been seen to directly control the actions of Mutons, in the way we had theorized that the Brain would generally do over all of the aliens. 

However, Ethereals do not control directly all races: someone is responsible for those other aliens and for the Ethereals themselves".

"The Brain, like Dr. Chevereux just said". Illyuschenko interrupted eager to move on. "And if we capture an Ethereal of the high-ranking leadership, it will know where this intelligence is located on Mars. And then we go after it and end this war". Silence greeted him as the other commanders digested his words. 

November 12th, 2001

UNSS _Avenger_, south of the Hawaiian Islands, Pacific

The air onboard the Avenger craft had a strange scent to Private Jones. The atmosphere was being constantly recycled and it had an artificial smell, much different from the oily and cold air of the crew compartments of the old Skyrangers. There was even a small restroom in a cabinet where one could relieve himself before the battle, which had come much as a surprise to all of the troopers embarked. 

But the weirdest sensation was that it didn't seem that they were flying several times the speed of sound. Jones had been on the Super Valkyrie when they had used the experimental plane and whole flight to Siberia plus the drop had scared him to death. Now they couldn't even tell if the craft was moving, except when the small circular windows were uncovered. 

Although the _Avenger _was carrying a full complement of twenty-six fully armed and equipped men and women plus the crew there was enough space for them to actually feel comfortable. Moving on his seat, Jones tried to cross his armored legs but found that the suit's flexibility didn't go that far. After a number of tries, he gave up and his boot made a heavy sound as it hit the floor of the craft. 

Next to him, Pershing opened his eyes and looked at him. "Do you mind? I'm trying to get some sleep". 

"Ray, we're gonna drop in less than an hour. What difference does it make?" A warning look from the other trooper told Jones to keep his mouth shut or he would be thrown into the waters of the Pacific. Turning to the other side, he saw Rodriguez giving a curious look at the back of the Avenger. 

"What's so interesting to watch? Don't tell me you wanna try to have your luck at Jill again and get squashed". 

"I'll leave that to you Jones. I'm more interested in those two guys of Psi squad back there?" Turning towards the direction that he had just mentioned he saw two men, who were only carrying sidearms and personal armor. They weren't talking to anyone, not even between themselves and had placed themselves on the seats closest to the cockpit. 

"You mean psycho squad? These guys give me the creeps, man. I wonder from what hole did the Colonel dug them out"

"One of them used to be a Theta security trooper. I've recognized him". 

"He must be even more nuts in that case. Why would someone volunteer to have his brains fried?"

A spark of realization crossed Rodriguez's eyes. "You're right Jones. Why don't you volunteer since you have no brains to worry about?" The comment brought a grin to Pershing's sleepy face while Jones told the other trooper to shove his plasma weapon into a nasty place. 

Vostok Base, Antarctica

When the X-Com team arrived at the abandoned Russian base they found that most of the buildings had been completely covered by snow. After a quick scan of the area to detect for any possible aliens had turned negative, they were moving to clear some of the structures for their own use. 

Johnson and the other officers had all gathered inside one of the buildings, an old fuel depot that now only contained empty barrels and canisters of diesel and heating oil. Opening his faceplate and taking a breath he found that the cold air hurt his throat and lungs and numbed his tongue. Around him, the space in front of the other officer's mouths was being filled periodically with condensed water vapor and their faces were turning red. 

"Jesus, what a hell of a place to be". Markovitch's comment brought a nod from Hunt, who brought his hand to the mouth and coughed afterwards. Moving in the darkened room, she brought an electro-flare from her belt and lit it up, using it to check the place. "Where are the aliens anyway?"

Hunt's reply was brief. "Only two miles away. That is, under us". 

"There must be an entrance to the base. The _Challenger _and the _Avenger _will search for it by air while we do it on the ground". Johnson's voice made both of them turn towards him and the other officers. 

"We'll be lucky if we find anything in this weather. I can't even imagine what it would be like to be outside without a power suit. The inside of my nose has already turned into goo ice cream". She considered unlocking her gloves to rub her face but decided against it after realized that her hands would also freeze.

"Once we find it, we'll split by platoons and try to find the command center. Our target must be there". 

"Shouldn't we stick together Colonel? We have no idea of how many aliens might be underground". 

"The base is huge but Mother One has determined that only a small portion must be active. By the time we find the entrance the Skyrangers carrying the tanks and the fire support platoon must have arrived. We'll split them up".

"At least Hopkins won't be running around in the snow like the rest of us". 

"You wouldn't like to be in their position also. They are running into some nasty weather over the South Pacific". 

***********

They were falling. 

They had been descending for more than five minutes, falling into a red light underneath their feet. One of the patrols had found the base camp of the dead scientific team, standing next a ridge and, after a quick inspection of the area, they had discovered a small cavern. 

The entry of the cavern was made out of rock but as they progressed inside it became replaced by the dull metal of the alloys used by the aliens. And at the bottom of the cave a square-shaped hole on the ground burned red, marking it as one of the alien's elevators. To Johnson it seemed as one of the dreams where one would be falling into a bottomless pit for seconds, only to wake up in your bed scared shit. 

When the hovertank leading the way reported to have reached the bottom of the lift and found it to be a chamber empty of any aliens, she became more calm but the feeling still made her uneasy. 

Twenty minutes later all of the teams had gathered at the level of the subterranean lake and had split up, each one in a different direction. Moving around through large corridors and endless empty chambers, Johnson was appalled by the size of the alien installation. It seemed to occupy an area of several thousand square miles and its immense size was making communications difficult. 

There was a lot of static in the radio channels, either the result of being two miles underneath the surface or something on the walls that interfered with the signal. And the GPS wasn't working also, forcing them to rely on their own orientation. Fortunately, the hybrids left behind at the Avengers were managing to keep mental contact with all the platoon commanders. They were the most reliable source of keeping in contact with the rest of the team who had deployed in a circle around Johnson's position. He had ordered the command platoon to remain in a certain area while the others went searching for the alien leaders. Now they only had to wait. 

**********

As First Platoon was moving across a large storage area the thought on Jones' head was only one: Jurassic Park. 

He had seen the metal canisters before, right on the base that they had smoked in New Mexico. Yellow and green and red, the aliens used them to store all sorts of dead creatures that they wanted, including humans. However, this time it was different. 

Standing in front of a glass cylinder that was nearly three times his height, Jones was looking at what seemed to be a dead Tyrannosaurus Rex. The orange and brown beast was suspended in the liquid inside, with the head hovering just over Jones. Its eyes were closed but the mouth was opened, revealing rows of white sharped teeth. 

Coming from behind him, Rodriguez looked at the thing and said: "Allosaurus. Now this and the rest that is here sure beats all of those bone collections every museum has". 

Jones turned to Rodriguez. "Alosaurus? Man, this is a T-Rex". 

"Allosaurus, Jones. Trust me. Very similar but different species". 

"Yeah? How would you tell the difference?" Rodriguez pointed to the bottom of the cylinder. "Can' you read?"

As Jones looked down searching for a plaque that would indicate the name of the thing Rodriguez pushed him forwards making him stumble. "Stupid. Do you think this is the Smithsonian or something? I used to dig dinosaurs when I was a kid". 

Mad that the other trooper had gotten him, Jones was about to give a reply, preferably of the physical kind, when Sergeant Baker's voice stopped him. "Well, well. Since you first graders are so hot in your diapers, I'll give you something to waste your energy at". His voice was condescending, as if giving a reprimand to schoolboys. 

Jones looked around to see where the Sergeant was at but he could find it. "Both of you have point". Baker's voice then took a more menacing tone. "Move it!"

Grumbling to himself, Jones moved behind Rodriguez as both troopers moved forward towards the front of the line. 

As they walked carefully, they approached one observation tower that stood in the middle of the chamber. After a quick examination they found it to be empty of any aliens. After two troopers from Alpha had reached it and placed themselves on the top of the platform, Jones and Rodriguez kept walking, fifteen yards away from each other. 

Most of the metal containers that Jones passed now where smaller in size but he dismissed them after a quick inspection. Until he saw a humanoid shape inside one right to his side. It struck him as bizarre since all that he had seen yet were reptiles and dinosaurs inside the pods. Approaching it, he saw that it had green skin and a bulgy body with yellow eyes that seemed locked in an endless void. 

Seeing that Rodriguez had already moved forwards, he dismissed it and kept his own advance. At the end of the storage area, a strange form made Rodriguez motion Jones and both sought cover behind one of the empty glass canisters. "Captain. There's something out there". 

"What is it Rodriguez?" As the inquiry came, Rodriguez was looking carefully; he could see it moving in the dim light and to his amazement it seemed like a flying sack full of air. It disappeared out of view quickly after stopping for one moment. "I don't know. Jones?" The other trooper waved his head to indicate that he hadn't seen anything. Everything seemed quiet. 

"Whatever it was, I guess it hasn't spotted…" A high pitch sound cut him off in the middle of the sentence. Something splashed against the side of his arm and he saw fumes coming out from right over his elbow and felt something burning his skin. "What the fuck!?" 

The comment felt out of his mouth as he saw the flying sack standing on the air right next to him and spitting something at him from an orifice on his top. It was kidney shaped and had no appendages. 

Ignoring the pain on his injured arm, Rodriguez dropped his heavy plasma towards it and fire. The shot hit it at close range making it drop to the ground in a clump and making a sound of air being released. 

Jones had moved by and was pointing his laser rifle at the motionless thing. "What it that?" Poking it with the barrel of his heavy plasma, Rodriguez replied. "Dunno but it looks dead".

Looking around the big canister in the direction from which it had came, Jones froze. "You gotta be joking!" In response to the comment, Rodriguez watched and shared the other trooper's opinion. 

Another of the things was coming into their direction but it was only half the size of the dead one. But as it moved they saw it growing in the air. They both discharged their weapons at the same time, killing it before it would get the same size as the other. 

*********

"What is this?" The comment crossed also Markovitch's mind as she stepped out of the corridor and through the door. Zeta squad had moved into a large room where the left wall was nothing more than glass windows with metal two feet in width separating them. The windows stretched from the bottom to the top and on the other side only pitch dark could be seen. 

Stepping away from the sliding door, she approached the glass surface and activated an electro-flare with a push of her thumb while she motioned the other members of her squad to move forward. 

The yellow light turned the inside of the chamber into a kaleidoscope of shadows, as the shapes of the other soldiers moved in the opposite metal wall. The room was almost eighty yards in length and at its end there was another door, barely lighted by the flare's glow. 

Waving the light, Markovitch discovered that the glass was several inches thick and that the other side was filled with a green tainted liquid where particles could be seen suspended. Suddenly a pair of bright eyes appeared, attached by the light on her hand but the aquatic creature quickly disappeared as it realized that the flare wasn't either a meal or a mate. 

"The underground lake". She concluded, trying to discern the shape of the fish she had just seen. She hadn't realized that they had walked so far to the west until reaching the edge of the alien base. 

Moving away from the window, she followed the cautious pace of the other soldiers as they crossed the room. Dare and Yu had already reached the middle of the lounge. Then all of a sudden both troopers dropped to their knees and she mimicked their motions a second afterwards. 

The door at the other end had just opened to reveal the large shape of Muton, whose massive arms and chest almost occupied the whole width of the entrance, leaving little space between it and the entrance. The contours of the square barrel of the heavy plasma it was carrying could also be visible. 

It started to react to the presence of humans but before the alien could respond, a couple of plasma shots hit its body, one of them throwing its shoulder backwards. The weapon discharged its salvo a moment after as the pain of the injuries made it contract the fingers on its hand and press the trigger. However the body motion spoiled its aim, sending the plasma ball to the left of Yu and into the glass. 

Releasing a shriek from its mouth that echoed through the entire lounge, the alien charged forward, hurting from its injuries but still not dead. A laser shot scratched his right hip, cutting through the green uniform and burning the violet skin underneath. 

In response a number of plasma balls sizzled from behind the Muton, one of them hitting Dare on his knee, with the trooper letting go of a muffled moan but still shooting. 

Pulling a grenade from her belt, Markovitch triggered it and sent it in a rolling pin fashion towards the door over the polished floor. The cylinder rolled down the metal surface, barely avoiding one edge of the door before detonating on the other side. 

The Muton was already falling down when the fireball from the blast engulfed him. The explosion also ruined the sliding door, with the smooth edges becoming jagged lines of alien alloys. Markovitch was about to order her squad to move out when she noticed something. 

A pool of liquid was growing on the ground next to Yu, right on his back.

Looking to the glass she that a stray shot from the firefight had melted the polished surface and now it had a circular rugged hole. From which cracks were slowing expanding over the rest of the window. 

A cracking sound caught the other soldiers' attention. "Fall back!" She ordered and Yu moved to help Dare getting up, putting his free arm over the waist of the injured soldier. 

They quickly passed by her and Prune and she was almost starting to move when a thundering sound was heard, followed by a stream of lake water that gushed from the area hit by the plasma and hit the opposite wall. The alien glass had finally gave in to the pressure of millions of gallons from the lake that covered the alien base. 

When she reached the door the water was already by her ankles. As she watched the sliding plates closing after everyone was on the other side, she wondered for how long it would hold out. 

**********

When all of the radio transmissions become suddenly cut off and a white light filled the area where Third Platoon had used as a forward command post, Johnson knew that something had happened. On his side, Crossett looked by both directions as if he was sniffing the air for a scent, although it was impossible since they were on their power suits. "I don't like this Colonel". 

A few moments later, a sound of running steps was heard, followed by the appearance of Sergeant Hopkins, who came from one of the corridors. "Colonel!" He called. "A blast door just came out of nowhere near my position and closed shut". 

But Johnson wasn't paying attention to either of them. His mind was filled with reports being forward to him by the psis that now were the only means to stay in contact with the other platoons. "Second Platoon has exchanged fire and reports that the lake is flooding the base". "Captain Hunt is engaging a group of heavily armed Mutons". "Fourth is cut-off by a blast door".

"Colonel?" Hopkins' voice finally cut through the hypnotic state he was experiencing and brought him back to reality. Two miles above, the psis detected his irritation at the loss of sense of reality that he had just experienced. They immediately started to communicate with White instead, who found his head suddenly nearly overwhelmed with their thoughts. 

"Hopkins, keep the escape route to the lift clear. White, tell everybody that we need to find that alien as soon as possible". 

**********

In another section of the base, Captain Jerrel and his platoon were starting to wish that they hadn't encountered the aliens. The hovertank, who was an automated flying tank armed with a plasma cannon, had been assigned point when they had stepped into a huge room. It was the size of several football fields and it was filled with Elerium engines more than twelve feet tall with power conduits spread around the floor. The power plants were similar to the ones the soldiers had seen before onboard UFOs but their scale was much bigger and they weren't emitting the characteristically orange glow from their upper parts. 

The white and blue tank had bought it halfway across the room, after the artificial intelligence onboard had reported a spotting a group of aliens who had just fired at him. A second later, the sound of the tank crashing down the ground was the only thing that Jerrel had heard afterwards. The second salvo from the aliens had burned through the armor and hit the electronic systems inside the HWP, transforming it into a dead metal hulk, which now rested next to one of the engines. 

That wasn't good but worse for Jerrel and his soldiers was refraining from shooting the Ethereals until the psi had checked them with a mind probe to see if it was the alien that they were searching for. As Jerrel tracked a running Ethereal who was crossing the empty space between two deactivated engines up ahead, his finger edged impatiently at the trigger. The psi assigned to his platoon was taking too long, he thought. 

It made the hunt very dangerous. As the clearance finally came to kill the alien, it was too late. The three shots from his heavy plasma missed the Ethereal, who had managed to reach the cover of the engine. 

All across the room, the rest of First Platoon troops were having identical problems. When the clearance finally came for Private Bradley to kill the Ethereal who was on a mad rush towards his position, he found out that he couldn't move. 

Bearpaw, his fireteam mate, sensed something wrong and turned to him, after he had discharged a series of plasma blasts who caught another Ethereal but didn't kill it. "Bradley, take the shot!"

The soldier wished that he could do that but a strange force was preventing him although it didn't felt like the mind control exerted by the Sectoids. Instead, his arms moved away from the orange capped figure that was now only a few yards from him, with its hood covering the head. The alien was moving his limbs and he felt like a dummy on the Ethereal's hands. To his surprise he discovered that he could still speak despite being told that psionics gave full control over the being that was targeted. "I'm being mind-controlled!" His voice was filled with panic. 

Hearing his words, Bearpaw looked back to him after killing the Ethereal that he had injured before. However he was knocked backwards as if he had hit an invisible wall. Stumbling, he tried to catch his balance but instead his body was lifted in the air and thrown towards the metal surface of one engine. 

As he watched Bearpaw's flight in horror, Bradley suddenly discovered that the iron grip that was holding him had vanished. But before he could do anything to help his mate, another alien that he had missed brought up its own plasma gun and killed him instantly with automatic fire. 

Moments afterwards, Jerrel discovered that his line had been breached when a plasma shot carved a hole on the massive engine that he was using for cover, next to his head. He followed the unexpected direction of the shot and found an Ethereal on his right, where two X-Com troopers should have been. With a quick movement he threw the barrel of his heavy plasma into that direction and filled the space with green fire. However, the speed of movement didn't gave him time to aim and the bolts missed the alien, who run for cover with smoke coming out from a spot on its cape that had been burned by Jerrel's shots. To hell with clearance, he thought. 

*********

The infiltration from the underground lake into the base was getting serious, Markovitch realized as her squad entered a corridor where the water was already knee deep. The rest of her platoon had run into resistance from several groups of Mutons, which were keeping them occupied, but nothing that would require her assistance, according to the psi that was making communications with them possible. They hadn't found yet any alien officer but for now they were evacuating this section of the base. All of the squads were converging to into a location whose blast doors that had been blown by blaster bombs to prevent the X-Com troopers from being completely trapped by the waters.

Dare's injury to his leg had been treated but he was having trouble keeping up with the pace of the rest of them. Moving down the corridor, she stopped and looked back at both troopers as she reached an intersection. Beyond them, Prune was covering their back. 

When she turned forwards again something caught her attention. A mist started to come from the side corridor, flowing over the surface of the water. It increased until suddenly the liquid next to the intersection started to boil, releasing a column of white vapor that quickly condensed on the ceiling and walls, falling back afterwards. 

As the strange phenomena surprised everyone she raised her hand to order a halt. A second water column also appeared from the other side of the corridor and placed itself being the moving first, who was now five feet away from Markovitch. 

She had started to retrace her steps, as it kept approaching her. 

A darker mass started to be visible to her, submerged under the water, glowing angry red amongst the bubbles that quickly raised to the surface. Keeping the sight of her plasma rifle trained on the creature she decided it would be better to have more room between her squad and those things who had to be extremely hot to provoke such a reaction. 

"Let's get some room". She called the rest of her squad and she paced backwards until unexpectedly her back bumped into Yu, who apparently had stopped. 

"Captain!" Prune's voice and the hissing sound coming from his position told her that there was trouble. As she gave it a quick glance she saw that there was steam completely obscuring the part of the corridor from which they had came. And it was moving towards them. 

Her senses called it a trap, although the submersible things had yet to make a move at them. "Let's get us some room". She pressed the trigger on her weapon and Yu followed it with a blast from his own laser rifle. 

The green plasma bolt evaporated the surface but the water underneath dissipated most of the energy, adding it to the thick smoke that already was starting to engulf them. However it did hit the dark surface of the creature, which stopped for one moment before resuming its advance. Yu's shot had no effect at all, with the amplified photons of the laser being harmlessly dispersed into a million different directions as they interacted and bounced off the hydrogen and oxygen atoms of the water. 

The private looked hopelessly at his weapon while she was unsure if it was worth to fire another round. "Let's go". She called and started stepping forwards on the intent of clearing the creatures with the rest of her squad following her. 

A couple of strides brought her next to the vapor column, with the steam condensing on the view port on her helmet and filling it with thick drops that turned into rivulets. But as her left foot stepped down next to the creature, she suddenly felt a wave of heat burning through her limb

A flush of pain made it impossible for her to gain support on the leg and she splashed down the water. As view of the gray walls of the corridor on her eyes was replaced by the greenness of the infiltrated water she tried to grab something but her hand simply slipped over the smoothness of the metal walls. 

As tried to find the creature, she discovered that she was in a complete different environment. A sense of uncomfortable warmth in her waist told her where to look for. 

The sight of the alien lifeform was growing and almost filled the vision provided by her faceplate as it kept moving towards her. It was something akin of a sea sponge or a closed anemone, a mount of dark violet mass and with orange protuberances over its skin where large air bubbles would form quickly. 

On the side facing Markovitch a hole suddenly opened in the surface of the creature revealing its burning red bowels for one second. Then, a stream of boiling liquid spurted forwards, in an aquatic slow motion that hit her on the chest. 

The same feeling of warmth that she had felt before in the leg invaded her chest and she screamed and tried to kick the thing away from her. But when the pain that she was expecting didn't materialize, Markovitch realized that her chest armor must have hold the boiling liquid.

Then, in a sudden movement a pair of armored hands gripped her by her armpits and pulled her out of the water. When she was standing upright again she tried to place weight on her leg but a slicing pain made her quit. Meanwhile Yu threw his arm over her waist to help her, while the two other troopers fired plasma rounds at the thing that had attacked her until finally a gurgling sound was heard coming from under the water and it stopped to move. 

***********

Captain Jerrel was by now trying to think of a way to extract his platoon from the fight with the Ethereals on the engine room. One of the alien Sectopod tanks had decided to appear and it had killed Lt. Hanley with his plasma cannons as the soldier was trying to fall back. But the only exit remaining to them was the large corridor from which they had stepped into this cave containing the base's power generators. And a stream of water had started to come from that direction, meaning that the flood was starting to reach this section of the base. If they tried to go that way they could found themselves completely submerged. 

Close to him and also using the towering engine for cover, a trooper holding a blaster launcher fired the weapon. The guided projectile sped around the metal tower, flying for a few seconds before detonating against the Sectopod that had killed Hanley. Poking his head for a look Jerrel saw that the alien tank that was charging into their positions had been finally turned into scrap by the blast. 

However, an armored leg stepped down on its remains, and the contours of the tall mechanical beast to which it started to be visible over the smoke. "That was the last one Captain!" The trooper called, dropping his launcher to the ground and going for his belt for the grenades he had there. "We need laser weapons on the center!" Jerrel called as he raised his heavy plasma and started to shoot at the alien monster. 

To their right Jones hesitated for a moment as he heard the call since he had a laser rifle. But the sight half-dozen Ethereals who were attacking the right flank made him stay put, rejoining Pershing as he tried to stop the aliens with his weapon. 

Rodriguez was already down on the ground and against a power conduit after taking a hit to his arm after tossing a grenade at them. He had managed to crawl there and was fidgeting with his medikit to try to contain the bleeding that had dyed his suit's arm red. 

The group of Ethereals seemed set on killing the humans in this area, moving down the corridor between the engines in a precise and motion. Jones realized that their assurance must be so great that they didn't even bother to take cover as the capped figures walked down the space separating them from the humans. 

"One!" Pershing's call came and both soldiers stepped out of the engine's cover at the same time, both firing at the lead Ethereal. The alien screamed in pain as both shots hit it but the sound was barely heard by them in the middle of the gunfire and explosions that filled the chamber with noise. It felt to the floor with its cape smoking and stood there immobile, with the barrel of his heavy plasma poking out of the cloth. 

Both troopers then moved to avoid becoming targets for the other alien's reaction but Pershing was a second too late. Jones heard a 'humpf' and saw in horror Pershing as he was thrown spinning after taking two hits on his side, falling to the ground a moment also. 

"Great! Pershing, are you alright?" Movement on the fallen armored figure told him that he wasn't dead yet. Checking Rodriguez, he saw that the trooper was trying to insert a banana shaped clip on his heavy plasma with his left hand while holding the gun between his knees. 

Jones was on the edge of panicking when something upward caught his attention and made him look on that direction. He raised his arms in an impulse as something big dropped from the ceiling.

A blue and gray figure landed next to him, bending his knees to absorb the impact with the ground. As it raised afterwards, Jones's head followed it until he found himself looking upwards at a figure that seemed to be more than eight feet in height. 

The newly arrived figure turned to face Jones and he became petrified as the sight. It had a humanoid appearance but the chest and shoulders seemed too large. It was all covered on armor, with metal around the neck and other places, with the head covered by a sleek helmet. Jones wondered if he was seeing some sort of power armor being worn by a Muton or another alien. However, the visor on the helmet didn't reveal the face of the alien, since it only reflected Jones' own figure. 

It also had two strange and massive weapons on his hands, one of which having nearly the weight of Jones in length. Dropping his arms, he waited for the shot that would most likely kill him but at that moment he noticed an insignia that the alien had on his chest. It was a golden X superimposed over a circle. "What the…"

But in the next moment he couldn't see it anymore as the thing turned away from him, revealing a back covered with rectangular shapes of unknown electronic controls. It was now facing the Ethereals, who had started to fire at it. 

It moved with a speed that Jones found impossible for its size, although the movements seemed too mechanical for a man to actually be inside. 

The figure fired his right weapon towards the front aliens, releasing a stream of yellow fire from the barrel that caught the leading Ethereals and set ablaze their capes. It then directed the torrent of flame towards the two aliens behind as the first pair started to run and put down the fires that were burning them. 

By then the last alien was had started to fire at the thing and Jones raised his laser rifle to help the newly arrival but he didn't had a chance to fire. 

Watching in marvel, he saw a flight of light darts come out of the figure's second weapon and hit the aliens, the shots cutting the leading creatures into ribbons before bouncing forwards to do the same with the remaining ones. The head of one of the Ethereals rolled down the floor towards Jones foot. In one second the five Ethereals were reduced to piles of scraps of clothing and alien flesh. 

"Hey…." He started to call the guy who had just saved his life but the metal warrior was already striding down the corridor, towards the direction from which the aliens had came. It disappeared on the darkness of the engine room. 

Barely managing to hold the weight of his heavy plasma on his left hand, Rodriguez got up from beyond the conduit and readied himself to fire but stood down after seeing the dead aliens. "You killed them all Jones?" His voice showed bafflement mixed with admiration.

"Rodriguez, you're not going to believe what I just saw". Then he moved to help Pershing. 

**********

__

Where are we? While waiting for the psi's response Markovitch called for Krenon and Digriz to set up a defense perimeter and meet her at the upper level of the alien barracks that they had occupied. She looked down the corridor that seemed to lead into nowhere and proceeded through the door into the small room where the lift to overhead was located. 

After several minutes of frantic rushing to run away from the flooding her platoon had gathered at a base section that seemed clear of the waters. The alien barracks had been found before in the New Mexico base and they consisted of four smaller rooms that would cover each a different direction while lifts on all of them allowed access to an upper level that connected the four defense stations. They had found the suspension chambers on the level above empty of any aliens or equipment and were using them to regroup and treat the injured. 

__

Captain. The voice of the psi appeared on her mind as she stepped out of the lift. _Your position is estimated two klicks to the northeast of the Colonel's._ Digriz and Krenon appeared and moved towards her but she motioned them to wait. 

__

What's the status of the other teams? Have they found the alien yet? The response came negative a moment afterwards.

Turning back to her officers, she then asked. "What's the status?" 

"The fire team has disappeared. They were last seen ten minutes ago and have not responded to any of our calls. And we have two injured, that's besides you, Captain". She stepped on her leg. Most of the pain was gone although she had a large blister right below her knee, where something very hot had burned her skin. "Well the aliens can't count me out yet". 

"And there's something on the eastern corridor. Bragg has spotted aliens moving down a side corridor thirty yards away". 

"More Mutons?" Krenon shook his helmet. "No, Ethereals". 

Another alien nest to check. And this time they would have to be careful with whom they would be shooting at. "Tell everybody to lock and load. We need to get moving". 

Less than a minute afterwards she was watching as a trooper raced down the corridor Krenon had mentioned, followed by another. The passage ended in a chamber where the walls of a room could be seen. Her heart nearly stopped as she saw both troopers stopped at a corridor right before the chamber and checked it for aliens. 

After a moment the clear sound was heard and they moved to guard the entrance to the chamber. "Digriz reports the same at his corridor". Krenon spoke in a whisper. "Let's move out". She ordered and together with Krenon and another soldier they started to slowly approach the position of the other troopers. 

Step by step they came nearer and looking to her left as they reached the location she could see armored figures on the parallel corridor that also gave access to the chamber. When she looked at the inside of the chamber her heart raced. _A command center!_

She had seen the arrangement before at the New Mexico and for a moment was happy that the aliens didn't innovative as they designed their bases. On the middle of the black walled chamber and occupying most of the space there was a metal bunker with a large door on its middle with a corridor encircled it. The problem was that they had approached it by the wrong side: they were facing the opposite side of the door, meaning that they would have to go around. 

One of the leading troopers moved inside and rushed towards a recess on a corner of the chamber that shielded him from the side corridor that encircled the bunker. A moment later a plasma shot flew down and hit the wall to the right of Markovitch. "There's a Sectopod up ahead!" Someone warned on the radio.

"Franks, bring that heavy laser there!" Krenon ordered one of the troopers who were on the back. The alien tanks that had been designated Sectopods by the scientists, had been found to have a vulnerability on their alien electronic systems to the lasers used by X-Com. 

Stepping into the corridor, the soldier pumped a pair of golden laser shots into the legged tank that was at the other end of the chamber. The first beam missed altogether, hitting the black wall behind it but the second hit it squarely on the red 'nose' it had. 

The machine lumped forwards, with its front hitting the metal floor. However the soldier didn't had time to enjoy his kill since an Ethereal popped out of cover and blasted him backwards with a full automatic plasma blast from the weapon it was carrying. _Clear!_ Markovitch barely noticed the psi's message as she fired back at the alien, hitting it on the shoulder. 

Using both his hands Krenon pulled the fallen soldier out of the corridor while she continued to provide cover for him. After inspecting him from a moment he shook his head. 

"Digriz, what's the situation there?" The short-range radios were working again, much to her relief. "Full of Ethereals. None of the ones we spotted is our target, according to the psi. A.." 

A loud blast came from that direction and both she and Krenon felt the ground shook. 

It told them that the aliens were using blaster launchers. When Digriz's voice came a second later she felt relief. "A joker just detonated a beebee up ahead. We're alright but we can't break through".

"We need ideas people" She watched in almost desperation until her eyes stopped on the outside wall of the bunker. "Krenon! Burn a hole there!" She pointed at an area on the middle of the corridor. "Digriz! I need two people here: one with a heavy plasma and another with a stun launcher ready! Yu, get your stun launcher ready also!"

The Sergeant nodded and moved down the corridor towards the location that she had pointed, Yu followed him, putting his laser rifle slung over his shoulder and taking out the launcher from his backpack. 

Looking at the body of Franks, she saw the grip of a launcher coming from his backpack. Gripping it, she pulled the large muzzle of the stubby weapon free and turned to the remaining troopers before racing to join Krenon and Yu. "Keep your heads down!"

When she reached the area a nearly brightening green light suddenly illuminated the four gathered soldiers. After one second it suddenly went off and both Krenon and the other soldier with a heavy plasma kicked a portion of the wall who suddenly gave in, revealing the inside of the bunker. 

A series of deadly plasma shots came from the inside fired at close range but only one hit Krenon. They were followed by a strange whining sound of as both Yu and Bartfast fired their launchers at the capped figure that was now visible standing inside the bunker and holding a heavy plasma. When the stun balls detonated they released a shock wave that gave Markovitch a feeling of dizziness but she quickly regained her balance. 

Krenon had been hit and had one hand placed over his stomach but with the other he grabbed one jagged edge of the hole and pulled, further enlarging the hole that they had just carved. As Sharkey moved inside, she quickly followed him through the hole passing through Yu and Bartfast, who were reloading their launchers. 

Stepping inside, Markovitch found herself in front of a large door, in the middle of a corridor where two capped figures could be seen laying on the ground, one with its ghostly face revealed but with the eyes closed. No other aliens could be seen. _Are any of these the one we are looking for?_ The response came negative a minute later from the psi. By then Yu and Bartfast had also moved inside. Krenon was also trying to move his bulk over the five feet hole carved on the wall. She motioned Sharkey to stay and guard the corridor and pointed to the door with her thumb to Yu and Bartfast. Both troopers nodded. 

With a hand motion Yu activated the motion sensor that activated the large door and it slid upwards, revealing the inner chamber of the bunker. Yellow light illuminated the three soldiers, who stood with the launchers ready on both hands, coming from the floor, where a large alien lift could also be seen, emitting in a reddish glow. 

The room was empty of aliens and there were only circular gold cylinders placed upon the walls. She raised her index finger and dropped it a number of times and both troopers moved inside. 

The three of them were carefully approaching the lift, step by step. Then, halfway a plasma shot flew from the upper level of the chamber, through the empty hole of the lift and nearly hit Yu. The trooper raised his weapon in response and fired. Again a muffled sound was heard coming from the higher level as both she and Bartfast raced forwards. 

Reaching the lift in a couple of large paces she started to ascend, together with Bartfast 

Their ascension lasted less than a second and they found themselves on the upper level. She had seen the wrecked command center at New Mexico and now she felt a bit of amazement as she stood in the middle of this one. It was larger than what she could remember, with walls filled with large electronic displays were strange green symbols were glowing against a dark background, beyond violet several violet consoles. 

But she had no time to notice anything as a plasma shot flew past her and hit Sharkey, sending the trooper crashing into the ground. In response she directed her launcher at the red capped figure that stood next to one of the consoles holding a heavy plasma. 

Just before she fired a voice itched on her mind. _Captain! That's the one!_

The stun ball missed it by an inch and detonated against the side of the console. 

She saw the alien staggering as the shock wave hit him but still stood up, apparently not completely stunned. 

Reaching for a reload on her belt, she discovered in horror that she hadn't brought any ammunition for the launcher when she removed it from the fallen trooper. 

The alien's hood had fallen backwards revealing a skeletal face who now looked at her with dead eyes. She sensed that it had figured how the problem with her weapon and felt a sick satisfaction emanating from it through her psi senses. 

__

The rifle! She remembered that she still had her plasma weapon hanging from her shoulder but before she could react, a cold invisible hand engulfed her right arm from taking out the weapon. 

The Ethereal was using his psionic powers on her, she realized as she painfully struggled against the force, both physically and mentally. Her arm started to move and the alien shrieked, apparently completely surprised at her own psionic abilities. But as she moved her rifle into position it decided to use its heavy plasma against her. 

However, a sizzling round flew past Markovitch and hit the Ethereal squarely on its chest. The round exploded, sending a flash that sent a wave of dizziness through her while the alien staggered on his feet before dropping the weapon from his hands and falling to the brightly-lit ground. 

As Yu came near Markovitch she told motioned him towards the unconscious alien. "Get him. He's the one we want". The trooper moved and grabbed the creature by its robe, pulling it up to his shoulder as if carrying a sack of potatoes. At the same time she pulled out her medikit and started attending to Bartfast, who was trying to get up. _Tell the Colonel that we have him!_

Then, when the other trooper had recovered they started spreading grenades across the room. The sound of the explosives going off and destroying the alien control center reached them as they were crossing the hole on the wall. 

__

André Galvão, 2001


	30. It's full of them!

X-Com – The Unknown Menace

Chapter Twenty-Nine – "It's full of them!"

November 13th, 2001

Central America

The X-Com base at South America had detected an alien infiltration mission heading towards Colombia. It consisted of half a dozen of UFOs crewed by Sectoids, with most of the craft being smaller and medium craft with two Battleships on the mix. The base had immediately scrambled its lone Firestorm interceptor and two conventional fighters to deal with the smaller craft and had called Mother One for reinforcements. 

Sitting on the pilot's seat, Harris was trying to get a picture of the aerial battle that was raging hundreds of miles away from him. Major Prescott had immediately launched him to assist in the confrontation but he was wondering what good would the X-Terminator do when he arrived. One alien Large Scout and a Supply Ship had already been downed. However, a conventional fighter had been shot down by a large UFO with the pilot failing to bail out. 

The artificial image that he was seeing displayed in front of his eyes only showed the darkness of night, with the cloud cover glowing white below the X-Terminator. He was speeding towards his target at the craft's maximum speed, more than four thousand miles per hour. Switching his attention to the sides of the display unit he saw that his plasma cannon blinked a green "READY" while the words of the fusion ball launcher showed instead a yellow "STAND BY". 

He was about to engage the Terror Ship that had earlier shot down the F-22. From his previous experience he knew that a number of solid hits would be enough to bring down the craft. And he was thinking of better uses for the powerful fusion missiles anyhow. "Firestorm Two-One. Target has slowed down and is hovering. Engage at will". Good, Harris thought as he moved arms to adjust his approach vector towards the coordinates of the first UFO. 

Vostok Base, Antarctica

To Johnson, the clean up of the alien base buried two miles underneath was over. The _Challenger_ had already took off towards Area 51, carrying the injured soldiers and the captured Ethereal Commander, who was still unconscious. The plane was due to arrive in a little more than half an hour and Dr. Mantell was getting ready the special containment facility that had been built and used for the Sectoid leader. 

All of the platoons had managed to reach the lift towards the safety of surface, although in one case they had to use blaster bombs to blow the containment doors that the aliens had dropped to contain the flooding. Most likely there were still live aliens at the massive base, in sections that hadn't been filled by water but they hardly mattered any more. The control section of the base had been destroyed and the troops guarding the lift had reported that it had stopped to function an hour ago, becoming only a pit two miles deep that even the aliens would have trouble to climb its empty walls. 

Standing next to the _Avenger_, Johnson watched as the troops and the hovertanks who had survived the assault boarded it and the Skyrangers. Crossett was also standing next to him, still holding his heavy plasma. "I could order you to relax and put down that thing", he told him. 

The armored shoulders of Crossett's power suit almost lift an inch as the man dismissed the comment. However he turned away but still kept the weapon ready. Johnson gave him one last look before facing towards Captain Jerrel, who was approaching him with tired steps. 

"Colonel, the squad guarding the lift could use a replacement but I have no men available". 

"They will have to wait. We're almost done here and we can use one of the Skyrangers to pick them up". Jerrel rocked backward and forward and Johnson realized that he must be on the edge of mental and physical exhaustion. "Yes sir". Raising his head he looked back at him. "Colonel, can I ask you something?"

When Johnson nodded in affirmative, he looked hesitantly, unsure of how to say it. "After this mission I'm starting to loose count of the number of men and women that I've lost since I've started fighting the aliens". He looked towards the distance, to the frozen white landscape. "I just don't know..:.".

"What Jerrel?"

"Was this whole thing worth it sir? I mean, capturing that son of a bitch down there? We've lost an entire platoon worth of soldiers doing it. Henley, Bradley and Bearpaw are dead, with Pershing having fifty- percent chances of making it. And more and more it seems that we are going nowhere and the aliens only get bigger no matter what we do". 

Johnson wanted to tell him about Mars and the importance of the alien that they had just captured but he couldn't. "It will be Jerrel. Trust me". 

Over the Andes Mountains, South America

Locking his hand into a fist and pressing on it with his thumb Harris fired another plasma volley at the already battered Terror Ship that was showing on the display. The craft was more than thirty miles away but he had increased the magnification so that he could see it falling down the sky towards the terrain five thousand feet below. 

The UFO shook again when the energized particles hit its main body, with metal fragments releasing from the fuselage. Harris knew that it was good as dead and if there were still any live aliens inside, the fall into the mountains below would kill him. 

Pushing backwards his left hand, the sensors built into the gloves detected the motion and ordered the Elerium engine to bring the craft into a halt. The fingers on his other hand started dancing over the control panel at his waist level as he checked the remaining Elerium on his craft with his eyes. He was still at more than seventy per cent fuel left, he realized with satisfaction, as his hand called up the data on his next target from the central base.

But as he searched for the arrow that would indicate him the direction of another UFO, he found that he could only see the indicators for speed, altitude and direction projected upon the liquid crystal display. "This is Firestorm Two-One, I've downed the Terror Ship and require another target". He called on the radio and waited for an answer. 

The voice of the operator replied to him afterwards. "Firestorm Two-One, return to base. The area has been cleared of hostiles". 

"What??" He couldn't believe what he had just heard since he knew that there were still two Battleships in the area. Controlling his anger, Harris tried again. "Base, there are still two UFOs in the area. Have they been intercepted?"

"Negative Firestorm Two-One. All of the remaining fighters have been recalled also". 

Banging his right hand into the metal surface of the Firestorm, Harris swore. He had to quickly bring it back since the craft started to move sideways as the control mechanism interpreted the motion and translated it to be a command for the engine. 

__

They weren't even going to try to bring down the Battleships! The commander of the interception was sticking to the damn stupid rules and ordering the fighters to get back and leave the UFOs unscathed. 

Violently shaking his head, Harris considered his options. The controller would never transmit him the information he needed to engage one of the Battleships. The Firestorms had been equipped with simple radar systems since there wasn't much space available on the craft, unlike the Avengers, which had state of the art detection systems. And even those were only used for navigational purposes. The pilot depended on ground centers to give him the information he needed. 

However, there was something that he could try to do. Bringing up an overhead display of the area he recalled the last indications of the Battleships that he had heard over the radio. It would be a long shot, especially if the UFOs had made changes on their bearings but it could be possible.

Minutes passed, as he cleared the Andes Mountains and moved in a northwestern course. A number of times he moved down up the cloud cover to seek there for the alien craft. Once he misidentified a civilian 737 for it but fortunately he decided to zoom before he fire any of his weapons. 

Finally he found what he was looking in Venezuela. The UFO apparently had just finished disgorging his belly of aliens and was starting to return back after having accomplished its mission. The radar picked the huge craft at more than a 110 miles range, with its speed slightly increasing and gaining altitude. Both the Firestorm and the UFO were already above the cloud cover and heading towards the deep light blue when Harris fired one of his fusion missiles at the alien craft. 

With the help of the tracking devices carried by the Firestorm, his aim was good and the fusion ball detonated only twenty yards away of the craft. The following explosion made the impossible to happen. The huge five footed craft actually shook in the skies. Something that Harris had never seen been done on the few reported engagements before the prohibition. These craft only had the plasma cannons to strike at the craft. And it put them at a great hazard, since the UFO had a combination of plasma weapons and something similar to X-Com's fusion missile, making it capable of the destroy the smaller craft with a couple of its shots. In any of the two confrontations the Firestorm ever managed to seriously damage the craft before being destroyed. 

And now, as he pressed his thumb into his locked fist again, he knew that he could bring the alien craft down. 

The second round also hit true, however it only detonated more than a hundred yards to its still intact side. As a result of the spread of the blast of the fusion missile, the destructive shock wave that hit the Battleship was considerately less than the results of the previous shot. The armor plating designed by the aliens endured most of the blast although there were reported hull breaches. The aliens quickly sealed them before the openings could make more damage to the insides of the ship. 

Meanwhile their counterattack had already reached Harris' Firestorm, in the form of a double explosion of plasma beam and E-115 explosion that blanked momentarily the entire length of his virtual display unit. Leaving him in the utter dark as he motioned his arms in the air, trying to control the spinning motion that the blast gave to the craft. 

A couple of moments later he was finally capable to assess the damage suffered by his craft. The sensors were reporting major malfunctions, especially on the detection sensors and transmission equipment: he found it that he could still hear the X-Com's combat channel. However he found out that he couldn't transmit anymore before using the normal frequencies: his hyperwave radio was disabled. The fusion cannon also was offline but that didn't matter to Harris too much since he had run out of rounds for it. 

That only left his plasma cannon to finish the craft, providing that he could dodge the craft's next counterattack. Harris knew that the next shot would kill him: he would never be able to bail out in safety if the next shot only damaged the Firestorm more and not kill him right away. 

He found the UFO by a visual scan of the horizon, already starting to look as if it was in the edge of the black that started to mark the exit from the atmosphere to the cold void that surrounds all planets on the Solar System. However, to his dismay, the craft seemed to be gaining distance at him, even though he had the Elerium drive at full power to try to place the large disk back into his remaining weapons' range. As his determination rose, he failed to notice when a loose paper flew from one of his flightsuit pockets. And it wandered off in the zero gravity that was slowing being felt and reflected the outside environment. 

Vostok Base, Antarctica

"Colonel, Captain Clark is asking you to join him at the front". Johnson was surprised by the request forward by the co-pilot who was shivering in front of him, standing with only his flight suit in the middle of the extreme cold weather. 

Following him, he climbed the ramp of the Avenger and crossed the main section of the craft until he finally reached the hatch door that connected it to the craft's cockpit. "Thanks for coming Colonel". He pointed to the co-pilot's chair next to him. "Please have a seat. Mother One wants to talk to you". Clark passed him an earset after Johnson managed to put the bulk of his power suit on the seat and put it over his head. "Johnson here". 

"Colonel, this is Colonel Paqua. We have a situation here. One of your fighter pilots has just gone rogue and has performed an unauthorized attack on a Battleship". The name of the pilot came immediately to Johnson's mind. "It is Harris?"

"Yes. He was assisting the South American base at fending off an infiltration made by the aliens and had been ordered to return to base. Instead, he managed to discover the location of one of the Battleships deployed by the aliens and has engaged it". 

"I'm going to bust his head the minute he lands back at the base. Where is he now?"

"That's the problem Colonel. Apparently he wasn't pleased enough to damage the UFO. A radar station on Antarctica has picked both craft exiting the Earth's atmosphere and going into space!"

Earth's orbit

When Harris finally noticed the zero gravity inside the Firestorm, his left hand fingers flashed on the keyboard in front of him. He had never been instructed that these files even exist and the higher commands would never have allowed that he was looking now at the instructions that popped on his view. Somebody at the software development must have made a major screw-up: typing some commands in succession, he diverted a fraction of the reactor's output into the creation of a miniature gravity field around his craft, centered on his feet. He immediately felt back the height of them. The instruction had been specifically designed in case the Firestorms went outside of the Earth's atmosphere. Only then Harris realized what sort of pressure must have been made by the Council for Illyuschenko to forbid their use against Battleships. The dates on these files predated on more than three months the order set the ban. The General was probably dying that he couldn't use the Firestorms against the Battleships. But he also had heard that the Russian was strange, of the kind that actually cared about their men. That had gone against the stereotypes of Soviet officers that Harris had listened to more than twenty years. Sometimes he would prefer that that impression from him was false and he was nothing more like a butcher like himself. 

Johnson, on the other hand was more natural, the kind of officer that was only trying to do his job and that sounded a lot weaker attitude. However, Johnson's actions had taken Harris to respect him, although he preferred a more aggressive attitude. Pity that the Colonel couldn't decide to be more hostile in military actions like he was being at the radio transmissions that he was hearing from them. 

He had ignored the first call, the Firestorm and the UFO already in space, with the craft looking as if it wanted to circle Earth. An extra display showed Harris the view underneath and he recalled the first thrill he had the first he had ever taken the controls of a plane and flied. Continents and seas would pass by, sometimes covered by clouds. When he flicked the radio on again he heard Johnson's voice again. "Harris! Get back to base! That is an order!"

He chose to ignore him and kept his concentration into the point of light ahead of him. As both of them passed the Middle East he realized what was the UFO's destination: it was flying straight to the Moon. Checking his fuel reserves he became amazed of how the rate of consumption of Elerium on the engine had dropped. 

Automatically he decided to check the airspeed, or now his space speed. He found it amazing that he was travelling at more than a hundred million miles per hour with the speed still increasing as there was none of the air attrition of the Earth's atmosphere. Still he couldn't tell if he had E-115 enough to go to the Moon and get back. I didn't matter: he only needed to get there and close enough to that UFO.

Moon's Far Side

Inside the alien fleet's commanding ship, an Ethereal Commander looked at the Muton next to him on the command bridge. The massive and muscular alien was clad in red clothing, instead of the green that they used. They were both standing at the middle of the craft's bridge and the Muton looked in surprise at the other being. 

The Ethereal had been warned directly by other members of its species of the Sol Three'craft that was on a path directly to the location of the fleet. When the general quarters warning was transmitted to all crewmembers he was already aware and designing a formula to reply to the action. But the fact that it was something that he never had expected confused him momentarily. The same sensation that had only come once: when he had heard the news about the loss of the base in Antarctica. 

It was something that the creature dismissed quick, however. And in response, four Battleships that were parked in several locations on the Moon's orbit started to move from their positions on the fleet. 

Moon's orbit

The first warning that Harris had about the presence of the four additional craft was a blast from a Battleship's weapons that detonated just barely outside of the damaging range. The Firestorm shook to one side but he easily controlled it and kept his chase of the damaged UFO. At the same time he activated other views of space surrounding the craft and discovered two of the attackers. They had passed his position and now were racing to catch him on the range of their weapons. 

He still had some seconds left before they could gain enough distance to fire. 

And, much to his surprise he saw that the injured Battleship was slowing down. In three seconds between both craft diminish enough so that he fired his plasma cannon. The green round cut through the damaged section of the UFO like a razor sharp blade. One Elerium engine was completely destroyed and the upper level suffered a critical structure stress as the vacuum of space wrecked havoc inside the ship. The aliens on that level were completely sucked into space and the pilots who died would quite powerless to prevent the catastrophe that happened. The rest of the Elerium engines suffered an overload. Powerless and devoid of any control, the Battleship started to follow towards the Moon as the gravity of the satellite was already exerting its attraction here. 

Sure of his kill, Harris finally broke the chase leaving him now more room to avoid the blasts of the four pursuing Battleships. He brought his craft closer to the surface of the room in a series of tight turns. Flying less than a hundred feet above a cratered landscape that was barren of any oxygen he managed to get some room between him and the Battleships as he dodged the walls of gigantic craters. After some seconds he noticed that he had flown into the far side of the satellite. Most of the features on the ground turned black as the Moon's body obscured the light coming from the Sun.

When he finally looked up to check for a possible change of course back to Earth, providing that he could gain some more distance of the Battleships, he became paralyzed. "My God, it's full of them!" The comment came from his open mouth, as he was dumbstruck by the sight of the alien fleet parked on the Moon's orbit. Hundreds, maybe thousands of artificial lights could be seen, adding to the stars already visible and turning it into a view of a packed dense star field. And, on the middle of it a large shape could be seen just if as the Moon had gained a satellite shaped like a cigar. 

He realized that he was seeing the alien Mothership, probably the first human to do so. Then a blast from one of the UFOs detonated next to the Firestorm and destroying most of the internal systems of the fighter, turning his whole world into darkness as the craft went down crashing towards the Moon's cratered surface. 

Earth's orbit

"I don't care if I'm taking also an unnecessary risk Col. Paqua! Right now there's one of my men fighting out there on the Moon. The least I can do is give him some backup. And I don't intent to get in the middle of the alien fleet, even if I'm flying an Avenger craft!"

That phrase of the Colonel relieved Clark, who shared the same opinion of the Colonel. He wanted to get there and help Harris, but the man had done it to himself and clearly wasn't expecting to get back. Even he had tried to call him on the radio. Whatever Harris wanted to do it was completely the man's business, even a personal matter. 

"Park us on Earth's orbit!" Clark and the co-pilot both looked at the Colonel, who stood behind and in the middle of them. 

"Sir, what do mean by Earth's orbit? It could be anywhere from here to a million more minds. It even includes the Moon". 

"Park it here then!" The snap came quick from Johnson and made both pilots turn forwards and comply with his orders. "As long as we stay here Paqua won't complain anymore. We have decided both not to even bring this discussion to Illyuschenko although he will undoubtedly know after. A telescope in Hawaii spotted the Firestorm on the Moon for a couple of seconds before losing it". 

A couple of minutes later Harris last transmission was heard by Johnson, after a communications satellite had picked it up coming from the far side. It was a streak of luck that the satellite had been in position to receive any transmissions from that area. Johnson decided to wait to see if anymore was heard. 

They stood in station for two hours but never saw any craft coming from the Moon or heard any transmission back from the _X-Terminator_, as it said the insignia painted on the saucer-shaped fighter. After that period had passed Johnson ordered the _Avenger_ to fly back to Area 51. As Clark complied with the order he said goodbye to Harris, hoping that the other pilot had finally now found some peace. 

November 21st, 2001

Unknown location, North America

The air of the underground secret facility seemed to have turned down a couple of degrees although it would be impossible due to the closed ventilation system. Still, as number Seven moved down its darkened corridors he felt that the temperature inside the secret facility had quite cooled since the last time he was there.

Moving along the facility, he hoped that he wouldn't face any of the hybrids that composed its crew complement or, even worse, one of the aliens that sometimes would be assigned as liaisons. Although they were supposed to be restricted to certain areas, the creatures just couldn't be trusted to do exactly as they were supposed. For that matter every inch of the base was under constant surveillance by thousands of security cameras and motion detectors. Too much inside needed to be hidden from the prying eyes of any intruders or of any alien that decided to ignore the agreement.

However, as he stopped by a heavy blast door he reached the only place inside the facility that wasn't under any type of surveillance. The motion of his legs hadn't fully stopped when the electromagnetic mechanism that controlled the door silently opened it to let him inside. Looking upwards he saw the rectangular shape of a camera, pointing directly at him with a steady red light close to the lens.

Stepping inside, a small corridor in front of him became suddenly lit by neon lights built into its sides, floor and ceiling. As he moved across it he felt a small tingle on his skin all over his body. There was another smaller door at the end of the corridor but this time it didn't open immediately.

A minute passed and his impatiently and tension started to increase. He looked for any knob or bell but the metal wall was completely smooth. Looking around at the walls he found them also empty of any buttons so he decided to step outwards and gesture at the camera. Only to find that the outer door had already closed silently, leaving him trapped.

A touch of panic started to frighten him caused by the fact that he had never been told of what had happened to his predecessors on the group. Well, at least it wasn't plain spoken, but everyone with two inches of a forehead could figure it out. But he dismissed those thoughts. He had very important information to present to number Two; he spoke to himself as a reassurance.

But a stroke of doubt made his fears grow even worse. Could it be that his information was already late? That he had been deemed as a liability for the project and had willingly placed himself into the wolf's mouth by coming to this location?

His face turned serious as he dropped any attempt to try to hide his fear. He considered trying to open the outer door in front of him and attempt to reach one of the entrances. But his logic told him that it would be a waste of effort although he couldn't resign to death in the next minutes. 

Seven started to wonder how he would die. 

Suddenly the interior neons went out, leaving him on a sea of darkness that made him turn his head on all directions in panic. But as he looked a second time to the inner door, he saw a thin light defining its shape that slowly increased as it opened. Approaching it carefully he took a step into the inner room.

The chamber was large; all covered with red and gold drape curtains that hid the bluntness of the rock walls. Number Two was standing on its middle, examining an object on his hands close to glass display cases that hung on the air, suspended by anti-gravity Elerium devices. He looked at Seven's direction and smiled but the younger man didn't felt any true sympathy on the grin. Still, it somehow gave him a sign of reassurance that he might not be killed today.

Pointing a statue-like object towards Seven, Two spoke as if he was holding a treasure: "Isn't it a beauty?"

Looking at it, Seven noticed that it represented a human figure with a snake's head, painted in white, orange and ochre tones. Its arms were crossed over its chest, holding baton like objects. Instead of legs it had a long tail, coiled underneath a massive torso and it was wearing a white and gold intricate headdress. Some of its edges of the statue had been worn out, including an arm that that been broken at the elbow. "Egyptian?" He asked casually, trying to relax. 

"Close but no". Two placed it back into the weightless display case, where it stood straight on the air. "Actually predates the clumsy Pharaonic civilization". Giving him a stare he spoke in an almost harmlessly fashion. "But we're not here to talk of archeology are we?"

Almost jumping backwards, Seven tried to control himself and think of an appropriate answer. He failed miserably in both and hesitated several times before starting to articulate any words.

As he begun to mumble, Two spoke, with his voice elevated one tone. "Speak out! If I wanted you killed I would have done it by now!"

"There's unusual activity at the X-Com base". His response came hesitantly. 

Two's attitude was one of nuisance. "Such as?"

"Over the past month there has been a number of indications that a top secret mission is being planned. Apparently only Johnson is privy to the nature of such a mission. None of the other officers seems to know anything about it".

"What does that matter? Soon, they will be crushed. Anything else?" Taking a deep breath, Seven murmured what could be the words that doomed him. "And Williams is alive".

Silence only greeted him as Two's eyes showed a blink of surprise. "I trust that you are sure about that information or you will joining him soon".

"I have confirmation from my own sources inside Area 51. Apparently since the attempt he managed to stay out of sight but he was spotted during the attack that destroyed a portion of the X-Com base in Nevada".

He started to move towards his desk with determination. "You have done well to inform this to me personally. Tell your men never to let Williams out of their sight or both you and them will pay for it. Wait for further instructions". 

Nodding towards Three, Seven still felt compelled to ask a question. "And what about this mission? I heard our friends have been hit hard on Antarctica and that one of X-Com's craft even tried to attack their main fleet on the Moon".

"Inconsequential. They can't distract us. Now it's the time to cut all loose ends. And the ones that are out of our reach…. Well, our friends are already dealing with those…". His voice went trailing, leaving the threat unspoken. "We should concern ourselves more about our own affairs. I've received a communication from one of our associates: it seems that China is about to make their move". 

"This soon?" Seven's voice showed concerned. "According to the plan this is two months before the scheduled. Four should know that".

"The Chinese leaders are growing impatient. In no doubt our friends are beyond this turn of events and have pushed them into action. But don't fear: we will be ready".

November 24th, 2001

London, United Kingdom

Standing at his office Number Two witnessed the smoke that still raced upwards from the parts of the city that were still burning from the alien attack five days ago. The whole town had been covered with a smog cloud since then and the heat of the fires was preventing any clouds to pass over by and help with their rain in the fire fighting that was going along. 

In spite of a vigorous effort put by the Royal Air Force and X-Com two of the alien Battleships had managed to break through the aerial defenses and deployed their cargo of heavily armed Mutons. They were stopped in a couple of hours after the base on Mother One had deployed all of its available troops but they had enough time to wreck havoc on the city. The television sets were constantly passing images of the burning of Parliament building who now was nothing more that a smoking wreck. 

Looking through the window, Two recalled a discussion that he once had concerning free will. Even if he had the means to avoid the attack on his city would he do it? The sound of the incoming call distracted him and he moved back to his desk, seating down before accepting the transmission. 

The wall on front of his desk turned active and showed the face of Number Eight from a location on the United States. He seemed concerned and proceeded to the matter that was bothering him without further delay. "There's something strange going on Area 51. Johnson, Robinson and a number of other high-ranking officers are scheduled to leave the base for a meeting with Illyuschenko". 

Two already knew what it was. He knew about the capture of the Ethereal Commander at Antarctica and its subsequent interrogation. And he also knew that the alien had revealed a great secret to X-Com. "I'm aware of it". He replied. 

"X-Com seems to be planning a major operation from the indications I have. We should call an emergency meeting to discuss this".

He shook his head as he had already taken a decision about what should be done. This would be the right opportunity he had seen it the moment he was informed. The situation couldn't be better for it. As Eight heard what he wanted to do, the other man's face showed a little puzzlement. 

After he finished hearing it, he asked, trying to hide his skepticism. "Are you sure of what you want to do?" 

"Yes". He said it certain of fact. Some decisions would have to be taken, no matter the cost. He had been informed previously of the raid on London but had decided to remain in the city, knowing that there might be a chance that he got in the middle of the fighting by accident. One way or the other the attack was going to happen. It was better to be at the front to try to steer what came afterwards. "Bring him in". 

November 25th, 2001

Mother One, Black Forest, Germany 

The _UNSS Challenger _Avenger craft was slowing descending into an artificial opening into the ground set in a clearing in the middle of the trees. The landing gear had already been deployed and the green and red beacons built into the wings of the Avenger were flashing, filling the area with an aerie light. Using its anti-gravity drive, the pilot carefully guided the plane down, with the weapon pods housing the plasma and fusion weapons built into the wings of the Avenger a good feet away from the metal doors. 

When it finally cleared the entrance, the pilot carefully moved the _Challenger_ inside the massive underground hangar. Following the instructions that were given to him by a flight controller that was on the ground; he landed the craft at the end of a flight line of eight Avengers and Skyrangers. 

The Avengers were the most impressive, their size nearly the double of the venerable Skyrangers. The older transport planes could only be differentiated by the insignia they sported, telling from which base they had came from. But the spacecraft's origin could be told by their official names:_ Protector, Valiant, Defender _and the _Challenger. _

All of the planes and spacecraft had made the travel between their home base and Mother One, carrying X-Com's regional commanders for their most important meeting since the unit had been formed. 

Both the pilot and the ground crew were unaware of that. They could tell that something big was about to happen, since they had never witnessed such a concentration of military craft and of the top brass but the rumors were scarce. Some were correct in linking it to the recent success in Antarctica, claiming that X-Com was about to launch operations against the alien bases that had been detected elsewhere on Earth on the countries that had already been infiltrated. Another story said that a massive fleet was being readied to attack the aliens' craft stationed in orbit on the far side of the Moon. Both of them were wrong, of course. 

However, two hours after the last Avenger had landed on the base, coming from Complex YY-18, all of the high ranking X-Com officers were watching the video beamed back from the Moon by Harris' Firestorm before its destruction. The fighter was high enough so that the men and women could see the Moon's curvature against a black sea of stars. But the majority of the bright dots shone larger and gave an unsteady light, dismissing any thoughts of them being stars.

As the flight path of the Firestorm brought the craft over the airless surface of the ships, some of the small blinks of light grew larger in size and their aspect resolved itself into the known types of UFO yet encountered by X-Com. With a notable exception: on the center of the formation a tube-shaped ship could clearly be visible, dwarfing even the largest Battleships stationed nearby it.

The image caught by Harris' Firestorm suddenly banked upwards, reflecting the pilot's attempt to avoid the UFOs that were racing to shoot him down. A few seconds the screen went blank as no further data was received from the craft and the lights in the room came up, with some of the officers blinking their eyes in response to the appearance of illumination. "As you might have heard in the last days, the Firestorm was shot down afterwards, killing the pilot. He paid with his life for his insubordination but his sacrifice wasn't completely worthless, since it brought us this disturbing image". Illyuschenko raised himself from the padded sofa where he was seated. 

"We have compared the monster UFO with the images beamed back by Phobos more than ten years ago: it's the same one, unless the aliens have a fleet of them parked in the Solar system.

But there's more and it confirms our deepest fears. Colonel Johnson brought us the results of the interrogation made on the Ethereal Commander on Area 51. Amongst other things that we will discuss soon, it revealed that the aliens plan to stage their invasion somewhere in the next year. We are lucky if we have six months before they came down on us".

Shock filled the officers present in the room. Colonel Paqua, the French responsible for aerospace operations stood up and said. "Commandant, if the aliens use that ship, there isn't much that we can do about it, besides trying to use nuclear weapons, which I seriously doubt that we could successfully. Even our Avengers would be crushed like insects trying to engage it".

"I don't think that there's even a point in trying". Illyuschenko added. "The Ethereal gave us the information we want". He took a deep breath before speaking. "The alien Brain is indeed located on Mars, on an area called Cydonia Mensae, on the Northern Hemisphere of the planet".

Seated next to Illyuschenko, Johnson felt relieved when he heard the Russian speak the words. He had already known about the confirmation since they had used Landon, the former hacker to break into NASA's computers and use the Surveyor probe currently in orbit on Mars to confirm the claim of the alien. But the matter had also brought more confirmation of the suspicions that someone in a higher level had been covering the alien evidence. Upon examination of the pictures released some years ago to resurvey the area after the Viking probes had photographed it in the 1970's, it had been found that they had been deliberately altered to mask any signs of artificial structures in the area.

"The area mentioned by the alien there are a number of strange formations that most likely compose the base. The Ethereal didn't give us much information about the number of troops and UFOs based there or the actual place where the central Brain is located. But NASA is about to insert a probe in the end of last month that will give us more intelligence as soon as it completes its insertion upon the planet's orbit. However, we need to decide on certain difficult matters first and I would like to hear your thoughts first". 

The officers stood into an uneasy silence. Until, standing two chairs away from him, Yamashita stroke his mustache before asking. "Commander, the Council hasn't been informed of this?" The tone made the question rhetorical. 

Illyuschenko shook his head. "I've decided that we need to present a military plan to them to deal with the threat of the alien fleet, otherwise they will just panic or refuse to believe such a possibility".

"Making them more inclined to leave X-Com and join my country or conduct their own negotiations with the aliens". Johnson sighed. "Exactly what I fear Colonel. We need to try to stay in control of the general operations regarding the effort to deal with this new threat. What I'm going to propose is that the Elerium and laser technology to be freely distributed to each country's armed forces".

"Commander, with due respect, that will be worthless". Yamashita added. "It would take years to build a large enough force capable of defeating the aliens that way. Even if we tried to double or triple the number of soldiers X-Com has on his ranks we would be left only with a couple thousand soldiers to face the alien invasion. And the aliens' attacks on our bases shown that they know about us. Most likely we will be the first targets to them". 

"And no question of staging a bloody guerrilla warfare. We would have to abandon our bases and support. Most likely the buggers would simply wipe out and entire area full of civilians than trying to figure out who was our troops". MacTaggert's glibber made it hard to be understood. "We need to strike at Cydonia now!"

__

Not guerrillas! Not fighting in our own home again! Turning to all of the officers present, Illyuschenko looked at everyone. "I agree with all of your ideas, but we also need to gain time before the Council. Most likely we could give some information about the strike to some of the councilmen that would be more sympathetic to our ideas to gain their support, but without mentioning Mars". 

"The alien fleet!" Paqua mentioned. "The images beamed to us by the pilot of Area 51 will make quite an impression on them". . 

MacTaggert turned to him and asked. "Haven't you told us that it would be impossible to try?"

The Frenchman gave a devious smile to him. "We know that but they don't Colonel". Johnson considered it for a moment and then he spoke. "I believe the word for what you propose is ingenious, Colonel. It gives us an excuse to build as many Avengers as possible to take the maximum number of troops possible to Mars.

__

Indeed. Illyuschenko also started to see the possibility. "And meanwhile if we agree on the release of the technology, it will make them very satisfied". _Some good came up from their decision of building the Avenger as a fighter-transporter after all, instead of building two different planes for each role. _

Johnson added: "But how many time do we have? We need to strike before they invade otherwise we will be destroyed before we can take off for the mission. And how many troops will we need? If I recall correctly we only have six or seven Avengers operational at the moment. How much more will we need?" 

"A very important question Colonel. Colonel Paqua, could you inform us more on this?"

"According to the original specs of the Avenger it should be able to make the Earth – Mars journey in two or three weeks, depending on the position of both planets at the time of the launch. However we can't simply pack the craft with troops. We will need to make space to bring along some supplies and life support equipment for the journey and for our duration on Mars".

"How long then before we can launch?"

"I will need to talk to Dr. Chevereux and his staff on this. We will also need to turn the factory on Complex YY-18 to full production of Avengers and equipment necessary for the attack". Running some mental calculations through his mind, he added afterwards. "We could probably keep the factory turning out two, maybe three Avengers each month. If we have twenty Avengers ready by the end of April we could probably send two hundred and fifty combat troops in the mission plus a number of armor".

"Two hundred and fifty combat troops!? What are we going to leave behind to defend Earth if we fail and sustain heavy casualties?!" Outrage filled the voice of Colonel Waartens, the South African commander. "And what about the Battleships? Right now our Avengers have trouble dealing one to one with them. What will happen if we sent away all of our Avengers and have to fight them with Firestorms and conventional planes?!?!" Some of the other officers also cringed at the thought.

"Is that even going to be enough?" Yamashita's question showed restrain. "Even if the aliens are massing their forces on the Moon they surely will leave a considerable force behind to act as a reserve".

The response to the objections and inquiries being made was already on Illyuschenko's mind._ A gamble. To be played with Earth's survival. But if we fail it won't make a difference to those who are left back here. Or will it? What if the Soviet High Command had brought more men to fight the damn Afghanis? Or could we have recruited more men in the beginning so that now we would have armies ready to fight the aliens? Wouldn't it be just sending them to the slaughter like cattle since they didn't had the physical requirements that we impose now upon our troops? Will there be an end to this?_

Shaking his head out of the gaze of his thoughts, he raised his hand and made the discussion rampaging on the room stop. "Like we have said before, if these soldiers and planes are here on Earth where they won't make a difference". He scanned each officer to see if anyone would make any objection. _It's as simple as that_. "We have discussed a plan. A military unit is not a democracy but on this case if we are to go along I will need you to make a compromise with this plan. You are free to refuse it. It that case the troops and planes assigned to you will remain here on Earth while I will personally take the others to Mars".

A number of gazes were exchanged between the men present before each one of them was asked to raise his hand if he agreed with the plan. After the same was done for the ones who objected it, Illyuschenko stood up again. "Thank you all for your confidence in me". He paused before speaking what he had already decided after studying the reports from every base on available troops and ships plus the state of the production line. "The attack date will be set to the end of February". 

Chevereux nearly jumped on his chair. "Commander, that's too early! We are talking about sending a two hundred men and women in a space travel to a planet that we have never landed. We still need to do a lot of preparations!"

"And we will only be able to get twelve craft ready then, if we are lucky". Paqua was running mental calculations on his mind. "We have only six Avengers ready now, another three in several stages of production, and work has yet to begin on the tenth one, the _Majestic_".

"I beg to differ Colonel Paqua. The _Majestic _is the twelfth craft". Yamashita's short comment made Paqua turn to him. "Tenth, Colonel, in case you haven't read the latest report". 

"Twelfth. There are other two Avengers ready for our use in the flight to Mars. But their existence isn't recorded anywhere". Now he had caught everyone's attention on the room, who was eagerly waiting for an explanation. 

Moving uncomfortably on his chair, Yamashita exchanged a look with Colonel Oshika, the officer responsible for X-Com's manufacturing and deployment before proceeding. "My country has been diverting some of the output from the production plan for its own defense in case X-Com was disbanded. We have kept a number of craft stored in a separate hangar of our base as an assurance". 

"What!?!" The room became full of cries of outrage and anger from the other officers. Some even stood up and waved fists at both Japanese Colonels. "This is just the excuse that the Council needs to disband us!" One called. 

"Quiet all!" Illyuschenko's voice made everyone stood silent. "I'm not surprised a bit since I was the one who sponsored selling surplus equipment when we were running out of money. You didn't seem to complain too much when I did it". Some of the officers made embarrassed faces at the accusation". 

"I can sympathize with Colonel Yamashita's reasons for what he did. And all of you would probably do the same to defend your own damn countries! But what matters now is that we have to prepare ourselves for the attack. And," he paused. 

"We will just have to be ready by them and these extra craft can well make the difference. I'm not going to risk that the aliens advance their timetable and get us in the middle of our preparations". No one answered back. 

Turning to all of the officers, he tried to put as much hope and determination as possible on his voice. "This meeting is dismissed gentlemen. Please go back to your commands: we have to prepare for a battle that we need to win". _But what if the war is already lost even before we set for Mars?_

December 7th, 2001

Area 51, Nevada, US

"Well, the only thing I can say is that the origin of this message is from inside our network". Landon was seated at Williams' desk and typing commands in the keyboard in front of him. Behind him, Davis and Williams were looking with attention, trying to figure out most of the computer jargon he was using. 

"But the return path is wrong: it lists an address that is non-existent". Landon stopped typing and pointed at a line of alphanumeric text that seemed like all others to the two other men. "See?" He turned towards them. 

"Landon, pretend that we are five year old kid. What does that mean?" The computer expert suddenly took a professorial air and Davis moved on his chair on annoyance. 

"It's impossible to determine the physical origin where this email originated. It could have been sent from any of your bases". Satisfied, he then leaned back on his chair, which cranked a little in response to the movement. 

"Could someone have broken into our computer system and placed the message there?"

"Yes". His reply came up immediately, but after a moment of thought he added. "If I was aware of the existence of such a network I wouldn't stop it I broke through". 

"We're not talking about your illegal exploits Landon". Davis was getting very pissed at the arrogance of the college kid. "This message isn't just a hacker's way of saying hi!" The young man looked at both, unsure of what to do". 

After a moment Williams added. "Landon, the email was sent to me by a purpose and this is not the first time that I have received such a communication. Could he do it from the outside?"

"Like I said before, yes. But the guy would have either to make a direct connection by gaining physical access to the mainframe computer or he would need to crack through the security codes. And that would be a tough cookie. And I believe that they are light years away from the ones used by the Pentagon since they use alien algorithms for encryption". He knew that for a fact since one of his tasks at Area 51 was to try find security holes in the network. And he had only managed to break once. 

"What's the big thing about his message anyway?" He gave another look at the information printed in the screen. It only revealed the header of the email and the body was missing. 

"Landon, I think that it will be all". Davis replied. "And keep your mouth shut about this". The last phrase made him want to tell the FBI asshole to shove it. Getting up, he decided that it was about try to make another attempt at breaking into the system. If somebody else from the outside had managed it, it was starting to feel as a personal challenge to repeat the feat. 

As he got out of the office Davis looked at Williams, who was lost in thoughts. The rest of the message had been deleted by him before showing the email to Landon and was robbing his sleep in the last two nights. He now was only two days to flying to Mother One, as he had been called to participate in the top-level strategic planning that was going there. 

The timing of the receptance of the email and his presence in Germany were too great for all of this to be a coincidence. The deleted part had proposed a meeting in less than two weeks in the high-speed train that connected Frankfurt to Berlin. It was signed: A friend. 

__

André Galvão, 2001


	31. Amber Blue

X-Com – The Unknown Menace 

Chapter Thirty – Amber Blue

December 9th, 2001

Unknown location

The first thing that Harris realized when he woke up was that he was still alive. That didn't surprise him much as memories started to come to his mind of long periods of time where he felt only dazziness and could only see blurry shapes moving around him against a everfilling white light. 

It was a sharp contrast with the darkness of his cockpit after the plasma shot from the alien Battleships had fried all of the electronic systems onboard. And after a couple of seconds the Firestorm had hit the ground, sending him and the chair crashing into the electronic display in front of him. The last thing he could remember was a hissing sound coming from somewhere in the cockpit which told him that the fuselage had been probably breached. But afterwards there was only darkness to remember.

Opening his eyes he found himself looking at a nurse wearing a light blue and white uniform with her blonde hair caught in a tight fitting cap from which gold locks sprung out. She was pushing a metal troley full of cirurgical equipment and large glass flasks in front of him. As he started to move on his bed, she caught the motion on the corner of her eye. At first she seemed surprised but immediately called in German: "Doktor!" 

Somehow X-Com had retrieved him after his crash and had brought him back to Mother One, he thought. Feeling the scar on his face itch again he tried to move his hand to assess the physical damage this time. His chest hurt and he could also feel that some surgery had been done to his belly. But his body also felt lighter, which struck him as strange. 

But as he tried to get up, he found out that both of his arms were restrained, tying him to the bed. He found it bizarre and tried to lift his head to see where he was. His motion immediately brought it upwards much faster than he expected, as if it was lighter. Then he noticied that the infirmary didn't have any walls and that the medical equipment that was close all seemed to be several decades old. At that moment he started to think if he wasn't in a dream that he couldn't wake up from, no matter how much he tried. 

The feeling got worse when an also blonde doctor come next to him with a look of suspicion and made him a full physical examination. He only bothered to remove one of the cuffs while he was checking Harris, so he stood sat on the bed and handcuffed to one of the siderails of the bed. As he tried to ask questions to the man while he was examining him but the doctor just ignored him and give indications in German that the nurse nearby would write down on a notepad she was holding. 

He kept trying to get some response out of the physician but after a while exaustion finally made him stop. 

December 11th, 2002

Sea of Japan

For the men and women onboard the ships of Task Force 70 the wait was close to unbearable as they monitored the sea and air lanes that separated mainland China from Taiwan. Five nights ago an American commercial airplane on its way to Southeast Asia had been nearly shot at by the Chinese fighters that seemed to be massing on the shore and getting ready to retake Taiwan back into China by force. 

Then in the following day a KH-11 reconnaisance satellite that about to take pictures to determine the strenght of composition of the Chinese military had been shot down in space by an unidentified craft. NORAD had detected the attacker but had failed to determine if the UFO was Chinese or alien. 

US President Vaughn had replied by ordering the naval task force out of its base on Japan, composed of the nuclear powered aircraft carrier _Kitty Hawk, four guided missile AEGIS cruisers, plus five escorts into the area. Their official propose was to maintain the communication lanes across the sea and air open, while the US still tried to bring the whole matter to the United Nations' Security Council. The carrier __USS __Constellation was also steaming towards the area with its escorts after being called off from exercises north of Hawaii. _

The unofficial reason behind the top US leadership was to get ready for a possible war over China taking back control of Taiwan, a conflict more aggravated by the opposite philosophies that both nations held towards the aliens. 

The Admiral in command of the force was feeling uneasy. He had been ordered to deploy to the area to be ready to hinder any attempts the Chinese made to strike at Taiwan. The Chinese Navy didn't bother him too much since it was no match for the concentration of American ships that was forming in the area. However the aircraft that were massing on the shoreline gave him nightmares, considering the classified information he had about the new Chinese advanced craft. 

An air-exclusion zone had been declared two hundred miles around the task force and any hostile aircraft that entered it and refused to leave could be shot down. Still, he knew that if he took that action it would be extremely likely that a full-scale war might erupt between the US and China. 

December 16th, 2001

Unknown location

Harris had stayed in the infirmary for a week now, being fed by the nurses while he was laying down. He was still restrained inspite of his demands and no one, either medical personnel or the other patients would talk to him. His ribs still hurt and he assumed that he had cracked a couple during the crash but besides some cuts he thought he had already gone through the worse.

He couldn't understand anything of what was going on and that was starting to get on his nerves. One day, as he had awoken he had found that he had a guard constantly watching over him, seated on a chair next to the bed in front of him. As his enquiries were again unanswered, he grudgedly came to the conclusion that he would have to wait.

Apparently his captors had decided something about him three days after. Two guards had sent to fetch him from the infirmary. They were all more than six feet high and had both blonde hair, although one was more browner than the other. They were plain grey jumpsuits, almost equal to the ones used by X-Com, with no indication of rank. 

But as they arrived Harris knew for certainty that he wasn't back to Mother One or otherwise the whole world had gone through a quick change since they were red bands on their right arms with a circle on their middle where a Nazi swastika was on plain sight.

The guards didn't paid any attention to his surprise. They simply made him dress a white and blue stripped pants and jacket that one had brought. When he was done they   handcuffed his hands and feet in front of him afterwards. As they went through the motion Harris turned to them and complained: "What the hell is happening here?" One of them reached for his holster but the other simply spoke in German: "Nein!" They finished their job and started to push him out of the infirmary.

As they guided him, Harris wondered where he had been brought. He was led through metal corridors that had no openings and had a grilled floor. Surprisingly, he felt as if he had lost half his weight since he could take long strides with a single step. He found the sensation funny but when he hit one of the walls in one intersection, the guards made him stop and explained with simple gestures how he should pace his walking.

Moving down the corridors, they passed through more of its occupants, all men and women with the same Aryan features: tall, with blonde hair and facial features that seemed as if they had been schiseled. In some cases he was almost certain that he had passed through that person before but now it seemed that every five minutes the individual had changed clothes and hairstyle. 

Some of them were carrying weapons, red and grey rifles connected by a cord to a power unit to their backs, looking extremely familiar to the laser weapons used by the security troops at Area 51. In other cases he would pass by individuals wearing the same clothes as him, which looked at the guards in deference and fear, and quickly moved away from their sight. 

All of the light was artificial, coming from lamps overhead that gave a dim illumination to the corridors. But as they moved he saw a section of the corridor on the front more lightened than the rest, with beams coming from windows. He almost quickened his pace to see and discover where he was but one of the guards issued what sounded to be a warning to him. When he finally reached the windows, he noticied first how thick they were. And then he stopped as he saw the darkened sky, where stars could be seen glimming fiercely, with no atmosphere to filter their light. The rim of a small crater was in front of the windows, covered with grey dust with some parts illuminated by the overhead Sun. "I'm on the Moon?" He asked but the only reply was another push of the guards.

Finally one of them opened a door to a small room where a chair was standing in front of a table. Two officers were standing behind the table, wearing the same jumpsuits with red swastika band but their uniforms had black epaulets with a white skull on them. The guards made them with the Nazi salution, with their right arm lifted while calling the long dead Fuhrer's name. Then they made him seat and placed themselves at the door while he realized the Adolf Hitler portrait hanging above the officers.

They were a man who Harris thought might be an albino since her face was almost white, showing almost no colour and with deep blue eyes and a dark haired woman.  Feeling that he had enough of the World War II act he demanded: "What is going on here?" The woman got up from the chair and gave him a slap on his face that sent him crashing to the ground. Taking a second to think she then shouted: "Silence!" as the guards grabbed him and placed him back on the chair.

Jesus, not another German ice-queen, Harris thought, feeling his cheek burn and a wet tinkle coming from the corner of his lip. He moved his tongue and tasted blood. "Who are you?" The male officer asked in heavily accentuated English. 

He decided not to tell anything. "Me? I was just in the neighbourhood. Where are we anyway?" The woman started to move again but the other officer raised his arm and called. "Halt!"

Turning his head back to him, he said in a calm voice: "Mr. Harris, you don't have any rights as a prisioner of war because you are not one". He leaned over. "If we do not have the information we want, you will die by her hands". The woman looked at him in pure anger and Harris turned his attention from her. "How do you know my name?"

"It was written on the atmospheric suit that you were wearing when our crew retrieved you from the crash site of your Hannabu". The last reference made Harris wince in confusion but the officer made a sharp demand. "You are American yes?" 

He nodded and the officer tone lightened a bit. "Very well. Now tell us what is this X-Com reference that was on your insignia and in the Hannabu and how come you are in a possession of one".

The reference against confused Harris. "I'm sorry but what is a Hannabu? I've never heard of it before". The woman gave a look to the officer but he made her stop with a movement of his eyes. "A Hannabu is the airplane that you were flying". 

"You mean the Firestorm? X-Com developed it based on the UFOs used by the aliens". The reference to the extraterrestrials made a reaction on both officers. Leaning again closer on the table, the man studied him carefully before posing his next question. "You say that X-Com has contact with the 'aliens'?"

The implications that X-Com was allied with the aliens gave disgust to Harris who shook his head. "Hell no! The aliens did this to my face". He tried to lift his hands to his face to point to the scar but the chain holding them to the cuffs on his ankles only allowed him to bring him up to his chest. "We are fighting them!" 

"What do you mean you are fighting them!?" The voice of the woman surprised Harris. "You're are lying! You have sold yourselves to them for more than fifty years to prevent us from being the natural leaders of man!" The other officer issued to her a shout in German and she suddenly shut up. Watching both, Harris was even more confused but he had no time to think as the man asked another question. "What is X-Com then? Who is behind it?"

"It's a worldwide effort to fight the aliens. All of the major nations are behind it". Harris decided not to tell more about the defections that had occurred. "That's impossible! The Semitic-Alien alliance would never have allowed it!" Giving the woman a straight stern, the officer simply told something that made her get up and leave the room, which she did but not before giving Harris a murderous look. "What's her problem?" Harris asked.

If the male officer was feeling anything, Harris discovered that he couldn't tell for he simply said: "She's a firm believer of the New Reich, Lieutenant Colonel. But I make the questions here and if you don't give me the answers I want, I will turn you to her own 'special' interrogation skills". Looking at the door through which the stiff officer had just left, Harris felt a shiver went down his spine. 

December 19th, 2001

Frankfurt-Berlin IDE, Germany

"Do you mind if I seat here?" The voice came from behind Williams and made him almost jump on his chair on surprise. After an intense discussion with both Johnson and Davis he had convinced both of them that it would be best if he went to the meeting proposed by the email that he had received. He had spent the first two hours of the journey completely on the edge, looking for any possible gunman and had even refrained from using the restroom or going into any possible location where someone might try to kill him. 

On the other side of the restaurant car he saw Davis suddenly looking at the figure beyond him and getting ready to act in case there was any threat. Although the message said that he should come alone, the former FBI agent had insisted in coming along and Williams had accepted it. He wasn't also too eager to go alone into what seemed to be a possible trap. 

Slowly turning around his body, he saw a white-haired man on his sixties standing next to him. He wore a straight grey business suit complete with jacket and coat with a dark blue tie tied over a white shirt. The man's accent marked him as English and Williams tried to see if he could remember the face while he answered. "I'm expecting someone". 

The old man gave a conspiratorial smile. "Then rest assured for you shall not expect anymore". The phrase made Williams' eyes went wide at the same time that they flashed towards Davis. He hoped that the other man was watching them and had realized the same thing. 

Number Two caught the eye movement and looked at the same direction, speaking after a second. "Well, well, well. Now isn't that Mr. Davis? Don't worry, I pretty much expected that someone else would be presented here. I did not take you as a fool to actually come alone. Go and tell him to rest asssured: I don't intent to make any physical harm to you". 

Williams decided to remain on his place while the other man sat himself. Picking up the folded napkin on the table, Two opened it and put it on his lap and then reached for the menu that was standing on the middle. "I can see that you've already had your dinner. Any recommendations from the menu?"

"Who are you?" Williams decided to go to the point. "You seem to know all about me but I don't have any idea of who you are". 

Two gave an air of slight dissapointment and put down the menu. "Dear lad, one of life's lessons that I have learned to appreciate the most is to have patience. I have come here to discuss important matters with you and I would prefer to do it with a belly full. And as for my identity, it means nothing at this point. However, for the time being you may call me as Mr. Hood, although that is not my real one". 

The waiter came as Williams was about to ask another question and he had to wait in silence while the older man made his choice. While he asked for the beef plate and a bottle of French red wine, Williams tried to place the face into any familiar face that he might have seen, either on the intelligence community or in the news. By the time the waiter went away with the request he hadn't found any match. 

"Mr. Hood, why are you here?" He put it simply. 

"Me? I'm just a traveler. I'm on my way to Berlin to take care of some professional matters". 

"Do those 'professional' matters include me?"The older man's eyes flashed for one second before he answered. "They might".

"Are you the one beyond the messages I've been receiving on the past months?"

"I think that question is self-answering, Mr. Williams". He made a pause before continuing. "Please, forgive me if I'm not in the disposition to discuss smaller details but there are things more pressing at this point". He looked through the window and to the sky. "And while _some of them aren't really from this planet, the other matters will dictate the future for many others here". After another moment of contemplation he turned back to Williams. _

"See, I am here as a member of a group of men and women who have for long known about the extraordinary events that are taking place all over the world at the moment". 

"And who have decided to keep that knowledge away from the rest through deception, assassination and other immoral acts. Who should have told everyone about what was about to come so that we would have decades to prepare, instead of only years". 

"That is right". The lack of emotion on the other man's voice shocked Williams and gave him a deep anger but the arrival of the waiter made him repress the outburst that he was feeling forming on his throat. 

It was only after the man had served the wine and when away that they resumed their conversation. Uncapable of holding out much longer, Williams spat out. "That is one of the major crimes ever done to humanity!"

The older man wasn't impressed by his outburst, which had drawn curious looks from a couple of passengers who were seated close to them. He lifted his glass of wine and took a sip before answering. "Don't be too quick on pass judgement please Mr. Williams. If I'm not mistaken you have proven yourself quite capable of deception also in the last years towards the people you work for". 

He was about to respond but the other man's words hit true. "I did it because it was necessary". 

"So did I. Good! Now as you can see what truly remains here to discuss is whose reasons are more valid".  

"Go on. What are yours then?" The discussion started while the older man was eating his meal. 

"The moment we had managed to establish communications with 'them' it was clear that Earth was doomed if we were to fight them militarily. So we designed a special plan that would ensure our survival as a civilization. See, ultimatly, wars are won by those whose culture survives and becomes dominant. 

That's what happened over and over during History. The barbarians that took Rome had devised superior tactics that combined with the Empire's internal weakness allowed them to conquer Europe in decades. However, Rome's legacy survived because they adopted the Empire's culture. 

The same happened with the Mongols and the Chinese when Gengis Khan and his superior hordes conquered the whole of Asia in the thirteen century. When the Mongol Empire finally crumbled after a century or two China naturally became an Empire again on its own. Meanwhile the Mongols went back into cattle herding and lost any importance in history".

"But we are only a planet while the extent of the aliens' empire is truly unknown. What's your point?"

"That an organized force can take an empire when it reaches a certain point of decay. We only need to survive until the opportunity arises. 

See, we had long seen that Earth would never be able to achieve a military victory: we had neither the technology or the resources at 'their' disposal and it was doubtful that we  would have the time to develop them. 

They would move to prevent that from happening and would simply exterminate most of us before it was allowed to happen. So we took steps to ensure mankind's final victory, knowing that we would have to work undercover: if either the public or the world's leaders knew about what was coming there would resistance" 

"Steps?" Williams was having trouble finding the words to express himself. "All of you have sold out Earth. You are responsible for the deaths of thousands, if not billions if they win". The man shook his head the way a teacher would correct a pupil.

Putting down his silverware, he finished his meal, although he had left a good portion of his plate uneaten. "See? That's the whole problem with all of you. 'They' have already won for now but you are too blind to see it. We had already antecipated how we would eventually turn into one another, due to 'their' manipulations and because of the hopeless fighting on which we tend to indulge between ourselves. But we recognized the need to maintain human culture intact if we want to survive".

"Intact?" Williams's disbelief was plain to see. "Half the world is fighting the other half, at the same time that we are trying to contain 'them'. Our cities are being razed and our people killed or used for food or experimentation purposes."

"Call it to eliminate some undesirable elements of our society. We were already overpopulated for this planet to support us. And the chaos is also necessary to get ourselves into the right positions in several world governments. 

From there we can truly unite the world under one government and all the fighting while cease. We shouldn't be fighting the aliens but instead be their obedient puppies, so that one day we can bite back."

"I doubt to see how we can throw them back after they have conquered us. And we are already fighting back if you haven't noticed."

Two shook his head. "It's utterly useless. In spite of all the breakthroughs you and your organization have managed, some of which I was responsible for, you will be eventually overwhelmed and defeated".

"What do you want from me then? Why did you helped us then?"

"Ah, the juicy part. Now we are talking about real business". He checked the bill that the waiter had left and took a wallet from his suit's pocket. Leaving a couple of Euro bills he said to Williams. "We shall continue this discussion on my compartment where we can't be heard. And please go and tell Mr. Davis that he isn't invited. I'm on carriage 102, compartment six". He got up and left, heading towards the exit of the restaurant wagon. 

When he left Davis got up from his seat and moved over to Williams. The FBI men was dressed in jeans and a sweater and wearing knickers, trying to pass off as an American tourist in Europe. "I got most of the conversation. Hardly proves anything".

"What do you think? Should I go?"

"This guy brought company. I've picked a number of fellows who seem to be his bodyguards. And since you decided not to involve anyone else we are badly outnumbered here. If he wants I doubt that any of us will ever get out of this train alive". 

Williams looked around to see if he could spot any of them. "Are you still in contact with Johnson?"

"Yeah, but Mother One is too far for any help to come here on time". 

"I'm going". His decision was simple. "Try to be around in case I need help". 

"You watch your ass. I'm not risking mine". Williams got up after he nodded to the other man and went to the passenger area. After passing two wagons he came by the compartment he was looking for. 

He hesitated before knocking but then gave two simples rasps at the door. "It's unlocked". The reply came from the inside and he carefully opened the door, waiting for a trap. 

Two was seated on a bench on the first-class compartment holding a glass full of an amber colored liquid on his hand. "Please seat yourself. Would you like some scotch?"

Closing the door, he replied. "On the rocks please". 

The older man got up as he sat in front of the position that he was occupying close to the window. Mr. Hood had moved towards a small cabinet on the compartment and had his back turned to him. "I am glad you came. But there wasn't really any other option you know". 

As he faced Williams again he was carrying a half full square glass on his left hand where a couple of ice cubes could be seen floating and a pistol on his right hand. 

Williams immediately started to back away but found himself cornered. The other man feigned surprise at his reaction and raised the weapon. "Oh, I'm sorry but I had to startle you. But don't worry". He sat down and placed down the gun next to him. 

"I haven't used one of these for years nor do I intend to do now. Think of it as a reminder". Passing the glass to Williams, who tried to hide the tremor on his hands as he picked it up, the older man opened the buttons in the front of his suit and relaxed himself on the leather bench. "Now we can really talk about the reason behind my invitation towards you". 

Looking down at the pistol, Williams replied. "Why am I starting to think that you haven't told me the real reason about my presence here?"

"And I won't yet. There are still things that you need to know to understand what is going on". 

Taking a sip in hope that it would calm him down, Williams tried to relax. "You got my full attention". 

 "You see, as you know the Starspawn, or as the aliens called themselves and their society, consists of several alien races that have been conquered and assimilated into their culture, under a unified control. We also believed at first that we were dealing with only the Sectoids, as you call them. However we discovered soon enough about the true picture and that piece of information gave us the key into defeating them. 

Their strenght cames from the fact that they have absorved the physical and mental traits of several species, allowing them to conquer and control an empire that extends across the stars. 

However, that is also their major weakness. Their heterogenous nature is prone to infiltration, even more than the one that is currently being done by their hybrids. Like X-Com has discovered, we have a degree of mental resistance that puts us above the majority of the species that compose the Starspawn.

And we believe that it is the key to defeat them. We allow the aliens to take over  Earth without the resistance that would be expected without our intervention. So that later, when we are fully integrated into their empire we can shake them off or even take ourselves control of it. We can learn more on how to defeat them, if we are already a part of them. And there are ways to block their mental powers, if you don't know it already".

Realization of what the man was implying hit Williams. "That is insane. You talk as if you think we can actually dominate the aliens". 

"Insanity is a luxury I cannot afford myself to, Mr. Williams. 

Shaking his head, Williams put sarcasm on their voice. "You are talking about making deals with the aliens while holding a dagger hidden. How can you be sure that they are not doing the same?"

"But they are Mr. Williams". The man's cold certainty shocked him. "And amongst my collegues perhaps I'm the most aware of it. We can't rely on the promises made by them to us about the peace and prosperity their rule will bring. Unfortunately most of my opinions aren't shared by the majority of my associates".

"Since you bring that subject up". Williams put his glass down. "How many of you are there? Who are they?"

"If I told you I'd be signing my death sentence. In fact if they knew that I'm here with you they will kill both of us on the spot. See, to them you are supposetly dead. Who do you think that ordered you removed from the bottom of that river and planted a dead clone of you there?"

"You did that? How? And why?"

"As for the how, I'm sure that by now you have already figured out that we have enormous resources at our disposal. As for the why, we will come to that in a minute. First we need to discuss something, namely X-Com". Williams waited for the man to continue. 

"When the organization first appeared we weren't surprised or even count it as a disestabilizing factor on our plans. We had told the aliens that there would be some organized resistance and that it would be impossible to stop it by us. 

However, as time went by our original assessement changed. And while someone saw X-Com as a threat to our plans and demanded your destruction, I saw future possibilities. You are exactly what we are going to need in the future: 

A well trained and equipped force that understands and knows how to fight the aliens, when the necessity arises in the future. You also have managed to integrate the best of alien and human technology into your benefit and that skill will be necessary. I don't trust the aliens to stick to their plans. It is better to always have a safeguard Mr. Williams". 

"Do you think the soldiers will follow your orders willingly, knowing that you have sold Earth? That they will be ready to serve you?"

"They will have no other choice if they want to survive Mr. Williams". The other man's voice took a dark tone. "Their plan is already on its final steps as you know from the alien you have captured at Antartica. And ours also. Anyone who opposes  their rule will be ruthlessly exterminated". The mention to Antartica made Williams froze. How did the other man have access to that information? And what else did he knew them?

"What I'm offering is a chance to retreat and fight back later in the future. One day our time will come. Until then, we must save the best soldiers and scientists of Earth from destruction. We must make the aliens believe that there are no more threats to their role".

"Why are you talking to me then? Shouldn't you be having this conversation with Commander Illyuschenko or any of the higher leadership?"

"No and the answer to that question is quite obvious. You are from the intelligence community and are used to dealing with secrets: the best way to keep them is to keep silent about them. And you have been silent about them, other than that Davis character out there. 

As for you, I need men who are placed into the right places to act on the right time. I don't need to get full control of X-Com nor would I want to. In fact it's better if the organization just dies when the aliens take over, although the personnel and material will be saved. It will draw a lot less attention that way". 

"You want me to work for you?"

"Yes. And it's a simple choice actually". He casually dropped his right hand to the weapon to show what he meant. "And you will have to decide now since some matters have brought new necessities". 

Williams had a terrible thought, remembering the near departure of the mission to Cydonia and how it was above top secret. "What if there's another way to defeat the aliens?"

The old man in front of him smiled. "I seriously hope that you don't expect that the mission to Cydonia will ever leave Earth". Williams face become petrified and he tried to hide it, but couldn't. "Yes, I even know when it is scheduled to launch, at the end of February".

Something very wrong had happened, Williams could tell, a leak so great that could only mean the worse for the outcome of the mission. "I know all your little secrets Mr. Williams. X-Com surprised me by your ability to discover the alien base but luckly I've managed to even restrain that information from the rest of my associates.

However, this foolish attack on the aliens is putting into even jeopardy the plan to maintain human survival even under alien rule. 

It case it occurs there will be a genocide and the human survivors will all be reduced to slave condition. That's what the aliens told us fifty years ago: help us to submit your species or…."

 "Or……?"

"We will all be destroyed, including me. And that's why I've restrained the knowledge of X-Com's plans hidden from my associates. They would immediately move to destroy your force if they knew about it.

And have no doubt about the aliens, Mr. Williams. If they see that we have become too much of a threat they will launch a mass invasion that will utterly destroy Mankind". 

Williams frowned. "In case you don't know, they have a fleet waiting on the Moon to do just that". Two dismissed it with a wave of a hand. "You misinterpret their intentions. That fleet will be used to make a flashy appearance to convince the masses of what their leaders already know: resistance is futile. However, it will also be used to anhilate any form of resistance, as an example to the others".

"What makes you sure that our attack to Mars will fail?"

"Besides the fact that is something no one has ever tried to do or that the intelligence is completely sketchy? Or that this is something hastily planned as the result of you learning that the aliens are about to take control of Earth?

Lad, you will have to learn that uncertainty here is a deadly liability. It is better to eliminate all sources of uncertainties and chose the course that gives you more assurances. We are talking about the survival of the human race here. You can't be even allowed to try, specially since the end result will be most likely a complete failure. 

"If they fail". He tried to put as much confidence as possible on his voice. 

"They will". Two put a blank smile on his face. "You won't achieve anything even if the mission takes off and gets to Mars. See, there's something X-Com doesn't know: even if you kill the Brain, the alien civilization will not die there. You will be merely postponing their conquest plans. And if you fail, we will all be dead as the aliens react to it".

In any case, X-Com will never be allowed to strike at the alien base, that I can guarantee you. I have placed safeguards to prevent it even if you chose not to join me. And if any of my associates would know about this mission they would act quickly to prevent it, destroying X-Com by force if necessary. 

Now that is something that I would like to prevent and that's why I've come here to have a little chat with you." Making a pause for effect, he continued. "You are the only one on X-Com, or for that matter, outside our group that knows more about the whole scheme of things. There are others of my trust inside the organization but they hardly know everyhing about what's going on and they are more engaged into riding X-Com from…." He paused trying to find the right words. "….other influences". 

"What if I refuse?" He already knew the answer before the older man spoke it. "You and Mr. Davis will never be allowed to leave this train alive". 

"At least I have a choice". 

"Doubtful. You think you have free will? Even I with all my power I don't have free will. You are bound to what you feel you should do. And that is survival, the essence and instinct of every live being. And if you fail the consequence is simple: death".

Williams was about to answer but the sound of the compartment door being unlocked made him stop. As the other man turned in surprise he realized that something was wrong as Mr. Hood grabbed the pistol standing next to him. 

In a quick movement the door opened revealing a figure standing on the corridor. The tall man wore the grey and blue uniform of a ticket collector, together with a cap on his head and a satchel that was on the ground next to his feet. 

However the figure was holding a small submachine gun on both hands with a silencer attached to its barrel. 

With almost no sound the man sprayed the inside of the compartment with an automatic salvo that caught both Williams and the older man. The window glass broke as a slug hit it, with shards falling both inside and outside the train. 

Several shots hit the older man before he could even point his pistol towards the assassin, catching him on the middle of its turning motion. A bullet caught the side o his neck artery sending blood sprouting all over the compartment, some over Williams. He felt to the ground with a pool of blood quickly forming on the carpeted ground. 

Williams had also started to get up but the fake railway worker was too fast. He directed the stream of bullets towards him and several hit his chest and waist making him wince with pain. He fell with his face facing the ground and his mouth felt the metal taste of blood. 

As the clicking sound of an empty clip was heard the assassin took out another from one of his pockets. Then suddenly something he caught on his peripheral vision made him turn to the right. 

A red light appeared on his shoulder as if somebody was targetting him with a laserscope. As he looked he saw someone with a strange pistol at him from which the light came. Suddenly he felt a burning sensation on his chest that almost made him drop his weapon. However he brought the subautomatic weapon up and sprayed the corridor of the wagon with bullets before rushing back inside the compartment. 

The next thing Williams felt was the pain of having one of his legs crushed by the boot of the assassin. The pressure quickly dissapeared but after two seconds he screamed in pain unable to keep himself immobile for more time. His body hurted from a number of locations and as he opened his eyes he found them sticky from the blood that was flowing from the older man whose face was turned towards him. 

Apparently he wasn't dead yet since his eyes moved as Williams tried to raise himself. He started to mumble. "….see? Always have a contingency plan". 

Moving closer Williams tried to move him but discovered that he missed the strenght. The older man kept talking in fragments of sentences. "…ironic how now it will only serve their purposes….". He coughed blood. "The game is over for us".

"What do you mean?" Williams demanded. "Tell me!"

A flash of realization came to the other man's eyes. "….precarious I see. Doesn't matter. Amber Blue….he's…" His mouth droppen open in the middle of the last sentence. Williams tried to make him talk but discovered that he had died. 

"Jesus!" Davis' voice came from the doorway. "Are you allright?" He moved over and grabbed Williams, checking his injuries. 

"I feel like somebody took a trashing at me". Davis hands ran through his chest, ripping his shirt open and revealing a white vest underneath. 

"You're lucky the alien alloy seems to have stopped all of the bullets and that I arrived on time before the guy could finish his job. You're not bleeding from anywhere from what I can tell".

Davis moved to check the older man but only found what Williams already knew. "What happened?" Even breathing brought pain to Williams, not to mention speaking. 

"Well I noticed that the guys that were preventing me from getting here suddenly dissapeared out of sight. When I found one of them dead in a toilet I knew that something was wrong so I immediately raced here. I found what I think is a hybrid filling you and this guy with bullets so I tried to take him out". 

"A hybrid?"

"Yeah, the thing took a laser hit that would have disabled anyone and still responded. It looks as if it jumped off through the window to escape. Let's get you out of here before anyone notices this mess". Pulling Williams arm over his shoulders he lifted him up. 

The whole motion sent shivers of pain down his body but he refrained from shouting. "Where are we going?"

"We need to find a safe place to clean you up from the other guy's blood and get off this train as fast as possible". They moved into the corridor. "By the way, who was that guy?" Williams shook his head. "I don't think we will ever know". 

December 21st, 2001

Forbidden City, Beijing, People's Republic of China

The Premier of the Chinese Communist Party wasn't pleased. The civil servants on the old Imperial Palace knew that and they had avoided contact with him unless they were called upon. 

Zhu was standing in the middle of an large foyer, contemplating the garden that was visible from the large windows that covered one side of the room. The message from the alien liaision at Lhassa had arrived two days ago and it had been quite clear: there would be no further support from them in the question of Taiwan. But more irritating was the fact that the words of the communication made it look more than just a request and more of an order. He felt humiliated by having to comply with the alien's demands and could only think about following his own plans for the matter. 

But his generals and admirals had told him that it would be insane to directly threaten Taiwan with the presence of the American task force in the area. Only the few _Dong Shen_ craft available would be able to break through the air defense cordon of the carriers but even then they would be outnumbered. They needed the alien's air support, the fools had claimed, in case the invasion force that was massing in several ports on China was ever to try to disembark on Taiwan. 

And that was something that now seemed completely impossible. He was waiting for Chen to get back from his visit to the alien liasion at Lhassa to try to convince them otherwise but he knew the odds of such a try. What had made the aliens change their plans, he wondered before a wave of anger flushed through him again. 

When a knock was heard by him he ordered the person to enter but stood with his back facing it and looking towards the garden. Chen cautiously opened the door and closed it afterwards, bowing shortly. "Comrade Premier?"

He kept his back towards Chen. "What was their reply?" 

"The liaison has refused our demands. He has plainly spoken that the Hierarchy will never engage in actions that they consider contrary to their own interests and that the nature of our alliance with them doesn't require them to do so".

"And what were your arguments?"

"Comrade, I mentioned that we would be very much appreciated for any help they could give us on this issue since we considered them as friends". Zhu turned to Chen and the other man was quickly to correct himself. "I obviously used that expression to try to gain his simpathy but it was to no avail. Then I mentioned how we have a common enemy in sight, namely the Americans and how it would be wise to curb their power in the region. 

At that time the liaison started to make veiled implications that I would take more as threats. He spoke that China should be grateful for their generosity in the upgrading of our society and technology. And that they expected more acceptance of their decisions in the future". 

Zhu nodded and Chen stopped, understanding that enough had been said. "The aliens are untrustworthy as allies, what we need to know now is how much we have to fear from them. Go back to Lhassa at once. I dread that this whole thing isn't over yet". 

December 22nd, 2001

Moon

As Harris was brought up again into the interrogation room where he had spent countless hours in the past week he started to realize how disturbing his story must be to his captors. 

A new Nazi officer now sat between the man and the woman he had seen before and he looked as if he was of a higher rank than the other two. As his blackened eyes started to look for the chair to sit down he found out that it was gone this time. He felt like collapsing to the floor but he managed to stand up after a couple of misshapen steps. 

They hadn't allowed him any sleep in the last six nights, since there would be always a guard that would hit him the second he dozed off while hanging chained to a wall on the prision area. One of his eyes was almost swollen shut and his face was covered with blood coming from several cuts and bruises. The beatings from either the woman or the guards had been severe and they had also broken his left forearm. He had broken a couple of nights ago and had stopped to conceal anything from them and had told them everything about X-Com. He only wished now that they would let him sleep or kill him. 

As the Lieutenant-General sitting in the middle watched him stumble he turned to his left to the almost albino Major and asked in German: "Herr Mann, he looks as if he is about to die in front of us". 

The man looked at the female officer who seemed more relaxed now. "The Kapten did a most excellent job on him. He gave us all that we wanted to know, didn't he?" 

"Yes, but I'm still having trouble confirming or even accepting it. How is it possible that there is a force out there actively fighting the aliens while we have waited here for more than forty years preparing ourselves while their fleet looms over us?"

The man's voice showed surprise and disbelief. "General, you mean that there hasn't been any reply from the Fuhrer?"

The lack of a response gave him the answer he need. "How can it be? It has been five full Earth days! Doesn't he understand the gravity of the situation? The alien's Hannabu have been probing the area around our base. They must be preparing something!"

"Something is wrong here Major. That it why I want to hear the prisioner's claims by myself so that I can believe them". 

To Harris it seemed as if he was in a dreamlike state as he overheard the conversation but could make no sense out of it. Nothing seemed real except for the scar on his face that would occasionaly itch and bring him back to the cockpit of the Aurora before it was shot down by the UFO.

A voice made him focus again on the table. "Prisioner, identify yourself!"

After a couple of seconds to recollect his thoughts, Harris started speaking. "Andrew Willard Harris, Lieutenant Colonel. Serial number 59154-1034. Born on April 15th, 1959 in Wakefield, Iowa, United States. Formely of the United States Air Force, now currently under the service of Extraterrestrial Command, based in Area 51, Nevada, US, flying Firestorm fighters…:"

"That is enough prisioner". The albino Nazi made him stop. "What is Extraterrestrial Command?"

"It was created in 1998 under the auspices of the United Nations to investigate and fight alien activity on Earth. There were originally sixteen nations who signed the X-Com charter but six have abandoned the force, with five joining the alien's side and the United States decided to fight them on their own". 

"Unbelievable!" The comment from the General made the Major stop before he could state the next question. "What of the rest of the world?" He demanded to the officer. 

"The prisioner told us that a number of states have also joined the Zionist-Alien alliance".

"How is it possible? We fled Earth because we knew that we couldn't fight them from there. Our new Fuhrer told us that all of Earth's goverments were becoming corrupted". 

The pause on the interrogation gave Harris time to clear his mind and start to think about what really was going on. Then, all of a sudden a loud voice was suddenly heard coming from an unseen speaker inside the room: "Achtung!"

"Alien Hannabus have been detected heading towards the base. All personnel man the battle stations! Achtung!" The warning made all three officers looked in bafflement towards one another. They quickly got up from their seats and sped off to the door, giving no further attention to Harris as they left. 

He couldn't understand what the announcement had been but the frenziness that had erupted around him was familiar. As the guards moved to his sides and grabbed his arms to quickly get him moving his broken arm sent him a deep searing pain. 

They ignored his shout and brought him outside the room to the corridor that would lead him into the the containment area. As they stepped outside Harris got the confirmation that something big was about to happen. Nazi stormtroopers wearing EVA suits with laser rifles attached to their backs were running everywhere. The base could only be under an attack by the aliens. Or could it be X-Com that had detected his location?

The idea gave in a little of hope, only to be dismissed as he remembered the alien fleet that was parked on the other side of the Moon. They would never pass it or even try to approach the satellite. 

Suddenly the rumble of a blast was heard and the three men stopped on their path. The metal ground beneath their feet shook for a couple of minutes as one of the guards started to shout in German with a panicked voice. They were in the corridor with the viewports to the lunar surface and Harris moved his head so that he could have a look at the outside. 

The Moon had gone around the Earth and the planet was now blocking the sunlight, turning the whole area into a deep darkness where only the stars could be seen. The overheads light flickered for a second then went off, bringing more stressed words from the guard. 

As the red emergency lights came up both of them let go of Harris and drew their laser pistols. They were looking at both ends of the corridor, unsure of what to do. 

Meanwhile he continued to stare outside, trying to understand what was really going. When the luminous shape of a Terror Ship came over the horizon he realized what was happening and sat down on the ground, wanting to have some rest before the inevitable. One of the guards ordered him to get up but he ignored him. 

Then, as the man was moving towards him, the whole ceiling of the corridor suddenly glowed and dissapeared afterwards. In less than a second Harris saw the guard raising himself on the air as the explosive decompression sucked everything that was loose inside the corridor. His own body followed a moment afterwards and as it cleared the hole carved by the UFO's weapons his body fluids exploded, killing him.  

January 1st, 2002

Geneva, Switzerland

Three had been surprised by the sudden request for a meeting by Eight, which had been completely unexpected. Before the appointment he had wondered for hours about the purpose of such a meeting. A trap? A deal? 

It had aroused his curiosity then, to the point that I was impossible to hide it from the younger man as they both finally met. And he had blatantly admitted it, together with his surprise to see what mistakes Eight might do if his ego was inflated enough. The man's psychological profile surely had indicated that there might be such a possibility. 

"I have information of extreme importance to the group". That had been the first indication that some big was about to happen. A major change of power was probably about to occur on the organization and he had better been prepared for it. "You have my full attention. Proceed". 

"You know about Williams still being alive?" At the mention of the CIA officer, Three felt dissapointment. He already had that information relayed from him by Seven. Still he could use this meeting to start making Two distrusting Eight. 

"And the reason why you were fooled was because someone we know ordered him taken out of the car and to replace his body with a clone". The revelation had sent a nuclear blast inside Three's head. A deep sense of anger had gone by him at that moment but he ignored it, knowing that he needed more proof of the other man's claims. 

"Our agents at Area 51….." He started but Eight didn't let him speak. "Have been secretely reassigned or have been feeding you false reports. As you might have discovered by now". 

"You realize that such a claim must be proven with more than words???"

"And I will". Eight simply replied. "Days ago a secret communication was sent to Williams proposing a meeting between both. I have the location and the date of that reunion. Someone is conducting their own agenda and risking the integrity of all of our plans. We can't risk any association with X-Com at this moment". 

When Three's silence had extended itself for more time than it would be natural, Seven had started to wonder if he had overextended his hand and revealed too much without stating his price. But Three was already seeing the near future and how all pieces of the puzzle were falling into their right places on his mind.

Check-mate, the coup de grâce, a thousand words were coming to his mind to describe his next movement. No, he had corrected himself then, the group's next movement. He only needed for the pieces to naturally place themselves in position. And they had. Both in Earth and on the Moon. 

Looking at the table he now occupied Two's chair. He now had the other man's position by taking advantage of his mistakes. Across the table Eight was now Seven. His ambitions had been clear: he wanted to raise his position. And he also wanted to be on the winner's side.

At the end of the table there was an empty chair, the twelfth one that marked the demise of one of the groups' members and reminding him of his victory. Even if Williams had survived the attempt and was now hiding in Area 51 back again where they had no means to get him for now. It didn't matter. The clock was ticking and even if the former Two had given him any revelant information about them he would be powerless to prevent them or even discover who they were. 

Looking to the other side, his eyes focused on Number One. He was the last obstacule to be removed before he finally could get what he wanted and the other man knew it. And nothing would stand on his path. Even his effort towards the Nazi fools on the Moon had been sacrified. A worthless ideology, something that should belong to the past buried alongside its now dead followers on the Moon. 

One started to speak and he listened to him. "We stand on the threshold of a new path to mankind. This is truly a New Year that will mark the beginning of a new era. We all have taken a long and perilous path to get here and the fruits of it are now only start to truly blossom". Every member of the group nodded in approval, although some, including the former Three found them too poetical for his taste. 

"And those who deviated themselves from the plan will never enjoy them". That brought a smile to Three and Number One noticed it, looking at him. "But in order to be fully prepared we need to keep our number. Competition is what drive us to our best as we all know. Therefore we need to recruit another junior member to our cause". 

That had been one of the major reasons for the assembly and Three already had some suggestions. Several of his own agents inside the US Government had proven themselves more than reliable. It was time to bring one of them into the circle and strenghten his position. 

But as he was about to speak, another voice suddenly overcome him. "I would like to propose a name". Searching for the source of it, Three found it to be the former Eight. "No matter who misguided a former associate of ours were, he knew the value of that person. He has been in contact with the alien situation from the beginning and will bring new perspectives for us to consider. Not to mention the knowledge that X-Com has collected over our 'friends'. We can't afford to loose it". 

As he realized of whom they were talking, Three was appalled by the proposal. "That is preposterous! That man is a danger to us!" Number One didn't even seemed to pay attention as he replied. "A very interesting option". 

Three suddenly realized that the whole thing had already been set up against him. In no doubt the others who didn't support him were fearing his sudden elevation and trying to contain his increase of power. "I call the vote. Who agrees with this proposal?"

A couple of minutes later the voting was all over and Number Three could only watch in anger as his plans were completely frustrated. It didn't matter, he told himself. Only the strongest should survive and he was sure that he could pass any new challenges ahead. 

_André Galvão 2002_


	32. Here it ends

X-Com – The Unknown Menace

Chapter Thirty-One – Here It Ends

Map of Mars: 

www.geocities.com/aadlg/Unknown/atlas_b.gif 

Viking probe picture of Cydonia:

www.geocities.com/aadlg/Unknown/Cydonia.gif

(All pictures were taken by NASA)

March 7th, 2002

Valles Marineris, Mars

Squaddie Jones looked at the yellow-brown sandy soil through the faceplate and wished that he could spit on it. However the helmet suit from his power suit prevented it and he wouldn't risk taking it out. Not only the greenie would most likely turn into a small ball of ice before hitting the ground, but he would be dead afterwards as the air of his lungs would be sucked out of them due to the low pressure of the atmosphere. 

That or he would be dying from hypoxia a few minutes later if he tried to hold his breath. And when the desperation coming from the lack of oxygen finally made him gasp for air, it wouldn't do any good. The little amount of gases present on the atmosphere was composed mainly of carbon dioxide, not oxygen.  

Yeah, all nice things to happen to you out there on the great Martian outdoors! 

At the briefing done while on route someone had made a not too assertive complain about having to fight in a condition where a suit leak could became a serious problem, not to mention the fact that there would be dozen of armed aliens around. But the reply from one of the officers present who had been a Navy SEAL was also light: "Well, at least we are not going to fight underwater there. I'll tell you all that it would be much worse". 

That had gotten Jones to remember for a minute the alien base on Antarctica and the flooded corridor. But he soon got his mind back into hearing more about this mad attack, where apparently everything could and most likely would go wrong, especially when taking a trip of millions of miles into Mars, something never done before. 

And don't forget to mention the fact that there's an alien base out there, full of thousands of aliens ready to take over any intruders, he reminded himself. 

If the opposition isn't tough enough, we will make them tough enough to make an even fight, his drill sergeant once told him. Jones wished that the bastard could be here and eat his own words.

His attention diverted from the soil littered with red stones to the high standing dark brown cliffs in front of him. Jones had already forgotten how deep the whole canyon were the X-Com force had landed but he remembered it was several thousand feet. 

Hell, according to someone at Eta squad, who had heard it from someone else, which in turn had picked up a conversation between two officers that one of them was saying that Valles Marineris was a series of canyons bigger than North America. That had gotten Jones thinking. 

He could see the northern cliff, its dark irregular peaks standing above him and marking themselves against the orange sky. On the contrary, there was nothing recognizable on the south as far as his vision could see. Could it be that they were standing in a canyon that big that you couldn't see both walls of it? Jones decided to dismiss the soldier's claim and stick to Eta's reputation: the soldiers assigned to it were too dumb to fight with the other troopers, let them jerk around with the robot tanks.

As he was contemplating the scenario, Corporal Rodriguez came from behind him and gave him a gentle pat with his heavy plasma as he passed by Jones. The trooper's attention was suddenly distracted by the metal noise and Rodriguez's voice: "Let's go Jones. This patrol is over. Terminado. Wanna play a poker hand at the _Challenger when we get back?" _

Jones dismissed the corporal with his laser rifle and resumed his walk back to the X-Com camp, together with the remaining members of Gamma squad. As they approached the provisional base they joined Private Pershing, whose tall figure had stopped on the path. 

"Very funny. We got someone with a sense of humor around here". He said to them on the radio with a detached voice, and then continued back to the camp to the provisional barracks. 

King and Rodriguez approached the location on where he was standing. Someone had planted a metal stake on the sand with a sign on top in several languages, all of them saying: "Welcome to Mars City One. Population: 244. Please don't step on the grass and don't feed the aliens".

Area 51, Nevada, US

78 million kilometers away from Gamma squad's location, Williams had just entered Robinson's office to join with X-Com's intelligence chief as they were about to get the latest intelligence report on Mars. The mission had launched itself without a single problem, much to his surprise due to the last dying statement of the man who he had met weeks ago. Davis had called it a bluff as he had heard the story but Williams wasn't so sure. There was a clear implication that others were involved in the whole matter but if they had tried to sabotage the launch of the Avengers and their flight to Mars or even warn the aliens, nothing had came up.

The mood of everybody at the base was of anxiety. Although only a few people knew the destination of the craft, everyone knew that something really important was happening. Or that it was about to happen.  The story of the alien fleet on the other side of the Moon and the recent attacks on X-Com bases all over the world were putting pressure into everyone. Even the news of minor confrontations between Chinese and US ships in the Yellow Sea didn't seem to grab anyone's attention. 

Checking his wrist he saw on his watch that only ten minutes were left until the transmission procedures started at precisely nine-thirty. As he entered the office Robinson's personal secretary looked at him. "Oh it's you Mr. Williams", she replied as if she was waiting for someone else. 

"Good morning Jill. Is the Colonel around?" As he asked he half-expected Robinson to pop out of his personal door with a serious face since he was five minutes late.

"No, the Colonel hasn't turned in this morning yet". She looked at his office. "I guess that he finally must have overslept a bit. Even he must get tired after spending all of these late hours here working".

"He hasn't arrived?" For the year since Williams had moved into Area 51 he couldn't remember ever seeing Robinson being late. In fact he had gotten from him quite a number of looks of reprehension every time he arrived more than two minutes late for an appointment with him.

"No and I don't know what I should do". The secretary was clearly surprised by the occurrence. It looked to Williams that she was feeling as if the impossible had happened. 

"Can't you call his quarters to see if he's already up? We have to be on the communications room in five minutes. It's very important".

"I guess I could but I'd hate to disturb the Colonel". A sudden remembrance came to her mind. "Wait. The Colonel yesterday left me something for you when you came this morning". She opened a drawer from her desk and removed a letter from inside.

Picking it up from her extended hand, Williams wondered what might be inside. Opening it up, he saw that on its back there was something written with Robinson's handwriting. Bringing it closer to his eyes, he read the words: Good luck.

Putting her right hand over the mouthpiece, Jill turned to him. "Sir, there's no answer from the Colonel's quarters. He must not be there".

"Try the base's desk. See if they can find out of his location". She went back to the phone and placing a finger between the envelope's flaps, Williams opened it. 

On the inside there was only a single piece of paper. As he took it out, Jill moved back to him in confusion. "Sir, the desk officer says that Colonel Robinson was last seen by a Theta detachment close to the base perimeter. Apparently he couldn't sleep and had decided to take a walk outside. They have now started to make a search for him".

As she finished off the sentence, his heart froze as he read the typed words on the small paper. 

"AMBER BLUE". The envelope on his other hand dropped without a sound to the floor. 

Valles Marineris, Mars

Inside the camp set out the day before upon their landing, Illyuschenko tried to ignore the last news he had just received from Mother One about the situation on Earth. 

Two X-Com bases had been attacked in the last 24 hours by the aliens with heavy casualties.

Stalingrad Base had been the first, but Colonel Bondarenko had left it well prepared for such an eventuality. The intruders had been repulsed by the plasma and laser fire from the security defense towers, resulting in the destruction of one of the incoming UFOs and the withdrawal of the remaining craft with serious damage, in opposition to the light casualties suffered by the defenders. 

But in the case of the African base, Depot S-4, the damage and consequences were far more serious. With the call up of all available Avenger craft and soldiers to fight on Mars the majority of the combat teams were either gone or gravely undermanned, since the veterans were all here now. 

It had been a massacre. 

Colonel Warteens had less than two platoons of infantry and tanks to repel the intruders, especially after having taking a beating on Nairobi two days ago from a terrorist attack done by Ethereals and Sectopods. 

It hadn't been enough to stop the aliens. 

All communications with the base had been ceased after reports of a series of alien attacks and a desperate call for reinforcements. But there were none that could have reached Depot S-4 on time to prevent the slaughter. 

Two fully manned Lightnings from Mother One had investigated the site the following day, with a couple of Firestorms flying along for protection. Among the ruins of the base they hadn't found any survivors.  Not only, the warehouses on which the majority of the alien artifacts captured were being stored had been completely destroyed or left empty by the aliens. More than two hundred personnel had been killed, along with the loss of a war material cache that was more than worth its weight in gold. 

Plus the other attacks on the preceding weeks, which had badly damaged Complex YY-18 and putting a stop on the Avenger production, plus the failed attempts at the Indian and European bases. The X-Com Commander took a deep breath and contemplated the dark monitor on the bridge of the _Protector. _

In his entire military career, Illyuschenko always had accepted the fact that military troops are meant to kill or be killed. And also that sacrifices were required most of time and the more he went up on the command ladder the more lives he had the power to decide over. His plan had been modified and approved by X-Com's High Command and ratified by the UN's Secretary himself after a long discussion. 

When he had first informed the Secretary-General, Bomaka had refused to approve the strike. He had argued that it would take away most of Earth's men and equipment on a suicide mission, leaving the planet undefended. And finally, that the decision for such an attack should be left to the Council due to the seriousness of the proposal. 

Illyuschenko had to threaten him to get his support. But not with physical force. Instead he simply said that he was ready to present not only his resignation but of the entire X-Com High Command if Bomaka didn't approve the attack. 

Actually, Bomaka's critics were not completely unfounded. All of X-Com's Avengers had traveled together to Mars, in a trip that marked the maiden voyage of the first human space fleet and the first landing on the red planet. However, it also meant leaving Earth undefended against the aliens' battleships and the upcoming invasion. Not undefended, he corrected himself, trying to dismiss of the guilt he was suffering. "We left some troops back….. But even if all of us where back there we couldn't do anything….".

"Commander? Did you say anything, sir?" Illyuschenko was startled by the new voice and turned the chair to see a young officer standing close to him, with the upper section of the power suit removed and in a hurry. "No. Do you have any business here son?" he said in an unfriendly tone. The officer suddenly wished for some place to hide but kept on his mission. "Sir, well, the hyper wave detector we brought aboard the _Valiant is now working sir"._

"Good! Why didn't you say so! Now we won't be seeing an unexpected attack from the aliens! We can now know when they detect us and bring all of their firepower to erase our presence from this dust ball!" The tirade came out of a second from his mouth before Illyuschenko realized his error. 

The officer stood in the same place, looking startled. "Sir? I'm sorry but I came from the South American team and don't speak Russian". Feeling relief, Illyuschenko just thanked and dismissed him with an order to be informed of any important alien communications. Then he went back to read the remaining part of the intelligence briefing submitted by Colonel Robinson to him, thanking whomever that he was speaking in Russian. 

The lieutenant was still nearby, he waited to see what other news there were. "And sir, Area 51 is calling. They have successfully reactivated the _Odyssey". _

Area 51, Nevada, US

"I told you all!" Landon's face was gloating as the data from the space probe orbiting Mars started to flow into the computers at Area 51 with a twenty minute lag due to the time it took the radio waves to reach Earth.

On his side, Pharris simply nodded in surprise. "You surely did. I never expected that your piece of software that went onboard the _Odyssey could do the job. I mean, to pretend that the probe had suffered a malfunction; deploy it successfully on the planet's orbit; and re-establish communications, after more than a month so that NASA had stopped by now to make any effort to listen to any signs from it. I take my hat to you"._

Still with a grin that extended from one ear to another, Landon turned to Pharris. "I'm gonna leave you guys now". He winked. "Good luck on examining the data. If you need anything I will be shooting pool at the mess hall".

"Well done, Landon". Williams spoke to him, but he was already by the door, whistling happily as he walked away. Moving closer to Dr. Mantell, who was looking on the screen displaying the data that was arriving with an eight-minute lag from Mars due to the distance, he asked. "Is it any good?"

The scientist had stopped to pay attention to reality and was emerged in the data. It took him a couple of seconds to take notice of the question and to answer back. "Oh, yes. The radiation detector on board it is working perfectly and has made a couple of scans of the planet already". 

"Doctor and what about Cydonia?" Major Prescott, seated also close asked. Punching in a number of keys to call the information, Mantell answered a minute later. "There are tachyons all over the area. The aliens are there alright". 

Valles Marineris, Mars

On the other side of the landing area the X-Com troops had hastily built a firing range to calibrate the weapons after the long-range flight to Mars. Corporal King was standing in one of the stations, a shallow depression where a man could fit inside and with a small wall. He was working on a heavy laser, when another figure suddenly dropped out of the sky close to him. "I noticed you coming from more than fifty yards, Rumpole. You don't trick me". 

He turned his torso to greet the female sniper, who was now trying to land on the Martian ground, using the anti-gravity equipment of her flying suit. Unfortunately, the suit responded in a not expected way and she unexpectedly pummeled to the ground in the last part, forcing her to bend her knees to absorb the impact. "Damn! I thought I had it covered by now!" she complained.

"When you are standing on a planet with less than half of Earth's gravity it takes some time to adjust for the additional push they provided. Even if we flew all the way here with the internal gravity at the craft set equal to Mars' own one". 

She moved closer to him. "I know dammit! But it was supposed to be easier than if we had spent the whole trip in zero-g environment!" King nodded in agreement. The more than a month claustrophobic trip to Mars had been close to living for that time in a submarine, due to the necessity of filling up the Avengers with life-support systems for the journey.

However, one of the benefits from the use of alien propulsion systems, besides cutting the travel time from Earth to Mars to a mere forty days, was that they created artificial gravity onboard. Thus, it prevented the soldiers from starting to suffer the effects of living under zero gravity, which would have weakened the body' bones and muscles. 

"Hey how did you recognize me anyways?" He dropped what he was doing and said to her, slightly laughing. "Rita, you must be one of the shortest around here, not to mention the only midget on a flying suit". She kicked him to the side with her armored foot, the sound barely audible in Mars's thin atmosphere. He stopped laughing and cried in a mock voice "Ouch! That hurt!"

The small, bulky soldier made a half-heartily try but King dodged it easily like he was meant to. "Yeah right! Stand there in the middle of the range and you will see what really hurts then!" He turned down her offer with a move of his metal glove. "No thanks. Sergeant Hopkins will already have my ass because of the dents you just made on my armor and I can't afford one more scratch".

"Oh, can it! What are you doing with that heavy laser? Our squad has switched into heavy plasmas for quite some time now". He picked up the weapon with both hands and dropped on her arms. "Just finished correcting the scope. Try it". She picked the laser with both arms and assumed a standing firing position. Choosing up a large rock as a target, she took two shots at it, leaving two darkened holes. "OK", he added, "now go for something outside the range of the weapon".

As she finished switching from one target to the other, she just slipped a phrase "Waste of batteries" before pressing the trigger. Then she become shocked as the white beam carved another hole at the rock she had chosen. "What the fuck?!" She checked the range on the scope. "That rock is 405 meters away. But the practical range for this thing is 260 meters! Are you a magician King, or are you getting fancy with one of the rocket scientists?"

He accepted back the laser from her hands. "Physics 101"

Looking at her enquiring pose he continued his explanation. "In Earth the practical range of this thing is related to atmospheric conditions, such as temperature, smoke and clouds and so on. In here the air pressure is almost zero, which allows for the beam to suffer from less dispersion. You just need to adjust the sight for the new conditions and you have an even more powerful heavy laser. Of course, the battery runs out faster also, but I prefer it this way. Gives me an edge when targeting Sectopods".

They both smiled at that last comment, although they couldn't see each other's faces. Omega was one of the few squads in X-Com that could claim to have survived in a direct firefight with one of the Ethereal's armored plasma beasts without even a scratch. That happened due to the excellent coordination of all its members and their marksmanship. 

"Very resourceful, Virgil Just don't loose any other targets meanwhile". The tone of her voice turned warmer and King turned to her, wondering what she was up to. "Say, I think I could use some adjustments on my heavy laser. Wanna go back to one of the tents and help me out?"

*************

Markovitch had just made another run into the _Avenger' toilet to puke for the hundred time ever since they had landed three days ago. The nausea pills that a X-Com doctor had given her seemed to be working, at least barely since she now felt better. The physician had first mentioned that the long space trip plus the landing must have been putting a lot of strain on her organism. _

She could understand that. Spending a month in a metal coffin with no more privacy than a curtain on her bunk wasn't that great. Or the landing, where the fleet had entered atmosphere at a completely opposite location from Cydonia right on the mouth of the Valles Marineris, in order to avoid detection. That had been according to the plan.

Unfortunately, the weather conditions in the area were being responsible for the formation of small dust storms and they had traveled most of the length of the canyon through rough turbulence until finally setting down at the bottom of one of the cliffs. Or the adaptation to this horrible place: Mars City One reminded her more of a shantytown or even a nomad camp. Conditions were minimal and that included life-support.

But when the Indian doctor had noticed the small Psi letter attached to the collar of her jumpsuit he suddenly stopped babbling about the conditions and she understood him. Psionics personnel defied science and doctors by its own nature. 

Most doctors just simply gave up looking for any other medical explanation and simply attributed any physiological problems to them, when dealing with psionic capable troopers.  This one had also the same attitude as he hastily finished the physical exam; she read it on his face expression. Not that she was able or willing to do anything with her mental skills. 

She had never felt this bad before, expect when she participated on the interrogation of the Ethereal commander captured in Antarctica. That had been the last time that she had used her abilities, because of their reported damaging effects on the human brain. 

Except for the selected members of the Psi squad, the strange group of volunteers from Area 51's personnel that seemed to have a special mental resistance, all of the other psionic able soldiers were banned from using them. The only exception was when there was a special need but the soldier would have to volunteer and the commanding officer to authorize it. Such as the questioning of the alien commander. 

The memories of it were still painful to remember. Johnson took the decision heart broken because of its possible implications and only after she had pressed him. She and all of the psi troopers on the base had been put together in the alien containment room. The alien was being kept there under the power of a mental shield, which inhibited its powers. 

However, when the protection was lifted for the troopers to gain mental control of the alien, the attack of the Ethereal was bad enough. All of the loose equipment in the room next to the cell immediately started to fly towards the troopers, in an attempt to loose their concentration. Markovitch wasn't the strongest psi, so her job was to weaken the Ethereal's defenses and allow for the others to take control of him.

It had worked, but it had also given her nightmares that still had plagued her on the weeks spent in the space journey onboard the _Avenger. They had taken the robe off the Ethereal and it was ugly and threatening enough to see. He had been sitting down on a rock bed, a thin and frail figure looking completely helpless. _

However, when the mental field was disconnected, all quickly changed. With an incredible speed it got up and faced his jailers. Much taller than a Sectoid, its face was close to the smaller alien, but it allowed for facial expressions. When she did her mental attack the Ethereal had simply turned to her, the black eyes burning red, his mouth opened showing sharp fangs. She became quickly engulfed in a wave of despair and fear. For a brief second she saw herself suffering the vilest tortures at an examination table in an UFO, followed by a feeling of something alien on her mind, probing and feeling, looking for her primeval fears and activating them. 

Then finally the alien froze in place and all of the almost unbearable pressure was suddenly lifted off her mind. One of the other psis had managed to take control of him for brief seconds, before the alien regained control and felt down screaming and with uncontrollable shakes.

From that moment on she hardly had any memories. From what Johnson had told her, the officer had tried to place again the artificial mental field that would block the alien's psionic powers. That was the plan. 

But after some seconds the alien had managed to gain mental control of the man instead. He simply had gotten up and, using the metal chair where he was seated, started to smash the controls. Fortunately several troopers were armed and ready for such an eventuality. The fully armored squad immediately broke into the containment chamber and killed the Ethereal commander with a couple of heavy plasma blasts. 

Most of the psis involved in the whole matter, including her, had to be taken to the infirmary afterwards, some of them in deep coma. But the whole affair had been worthwhile. When Warrant Officer Fisk, a psi recruited from the base's technical personnel who had managed to control the alien, finally awoke after days of deep coma, he simply asked for a map of Mars and pointed to an area: Cydonia Mensae. But afterwards he had committed suicide less than two days later.

Her stomach gave another twist and she waited to see if she had to run to the toilet again. The doctors couldn't tell if what she was suffering was from the mental effort of the interrogation or if it was only the results of the space travel. But she knew what it really was. 

**********

Johnson and Hopkins were wearing their power suits and were taking a stroll in the landing area, close to where the three Avengers belonging to the North American command were parked. They were standing in the space in front of the _Avenger, Challenger and the __Majestic. The craft were all covered in orange and yellow camouflage tarps, hoping to hide them from alien detection. _

Johnson considered himself lucky to have three of the craft available: one had been originally bookmarked for use by the Eastern team but that was before the decision made by Colonel Jackson to comply with President's Vaughn's orders and abandon the project together with the US.

"The first manned outpost on another planet. Have you thought about it Hopkins?" The Sergeant looked at the camp and decided that he had been in better places on his recruit. All the Avengers had been parked close to the cliff and around them there ten feet igloos made of highly resistant plastic polymers, with a smaller rectangular section as an airlock. 

They had been brought to supplement the sparse living space inside the Avengers and also as for storage for weapons and equipment. "Pretty shitty place if you ask me Colonel. I'm glad we are only going to stay here a few more days before packing up for Cydonia. If we stayed here longer I think the place or the conditions would kill us".

"Don't complain too much about the conditions Sarge. You're part of the team that broke into NASA to steal the plans for all of this equipment to live on the surface of Mars. Next time get us not-so-much-crappy designs, please". The loud laughter of Hopkins voice was heard on the radio. "Well sir, I plea the Fourth on that one. I never heard of such an action before".

Suddenly the short-range microwave radio was filled with alert warnings and both men froze into place, before running to the nearest Avenger. "What is going on?" He called on the radio as he went to reach the emergency stations in case the aliens had detected their approach and were attacking the camp, trying to be heard over the calls from all of the other officers in the field.

The voice of someone with a Californian accent, definitely Hunt, filled the channel. "All units stand down! I repeat all units stand down! The alert has been cancelled. Colonel, there's a problem in the outside quarters! The Major is on the scene". Both men immediately headed out to the main avenue, which linked all tents that had been raised by the cliff. They soon discovered where the disturbance was located as a number of X-Com troopers were standing beside it.

Finding Patterson, Johnson moved to his side as the other officer turned to him. "Colonel, one of the inflatable barracks suffered a rupture. The troopers inside are safe since they managed to use some of that repair spray to close it before the pressure dropped to zero. They have safely put their helmets and are proceeding to safely close the hole".

Johnson let go of a relief breath. "That was close. Make sure everyone knows the operating procedures for the material. We don't need losing people to accidents". 

**********

One hour later, all of the company commanders were on board the _Protector to finish the details of the operation. The group of men and women present all showed the tension of the week's space flight in cramped conditions plus the strain of trying to stay alive on a hostile planet. But a feeling of resolve was also present; with all of them knowing that everything was about to end. _

"The _Odyssey just made another pass at Cydonia. The area is still covered under a giant dust storm making it impossible to take any visual pictures but the radiation and hyperwave detectors made another scan". One of the small screens onboard the crew's compartment lit up showing a blue rectangular field crossed with horizontal and vertical lines with three clusters of red lights arranged in a rough triangle._

"The aliens are concentrating their activity into three areas, all separated by dozens of kilometers. The main source of activity seems to be here:" The visual image of what seemed to resemble a face came up to the screen. "It seems to be a natural large mesa formation at the first sight, but according to Area 51, its interior must have been excavated to transform it into an alien airbase, since there are multiple readings of Elerium engines and hyperwave transmissions coming from UFOs. More than a hundred craft seem to be based at this location and about half are Battleships". 

Everyone stood silent or gave looks of apprehension. X-Com had brought fifteen Avengers for the mission and trying to perform a classical attack would be suicide since they would be badly outnumbered.

"Fortunately, that doesn't seem to be our target. The other two areas occupied by the aliens are the City, located on the west of the map and the Pyramid, situated on the edge of a corner made between it and the City and the Face but more to the south". 

The image was replaced by one of a group of small pyramid like structures, all clustered around in a circle. To the right a ruined large mount could be seen. "As for the city, there hardly is any activity going around there. The probe has detected a number of Elerium engines but Area 51 has determined that they most likely are the signatures of Cyberdisks on patrol. 

There aren't any UFOs in the area and it seems lightly defended. But in the case of the Pyramid, the whole picture is different". 

The screen now showered a five-sided Pyramid that seemed more intact than the previous structures. A small crater could be seen on the ground right to the structure. "This thing is the largest of all of the structures, over five hundred meters tall and more than two kilometers long. There are also a number of Elerium engines buried deep inside that doesn't fit the characteristics of the ones used to power the UFOs. Something else must be inside that requires that sort of power. In fact their tachyon emissions match more the characteristics of the reactors found inside the alien base on Antarctica". 

"The alien Brain" MacTaggert didn't let him finish off. "But if we attack it, the UFOs on that face thing will be on us shortly and overwhelm us". 

"We need a diversionary attack". All eyes were on Bondarenko as the Russian Colonel moved closer and examined the data. "Something to distract their fleet while our main group drops undetected into the Pyramid and kills the Brain. But can we approach the area without being detected?"

Illyuschenko nodded. "The dust storm that presently covers the northern half of the planet should be sufficient if we move in complete radio and hyperwave blackout. We could send a small strike force to attack the City first from a northern approach while our main force moves in from the south". 

"But will that be of any good?" Johnson objected and all officers turned to him as he pointed to the screen. "The City and the Fort are only a few miles away from one another and they are roughly twenty miles from the Pyramid.  The flight time between the three structures means that the aliens will be able to respond in a few minutes. We can only hope that they don't have the transports ready to take-off, otherwise they will be on to us while we are still getting off the ramps of the Avengers".  

"Johnson has a point". Bondarenko conceded. "And the diversionary team will have to hold the aliens as much as they can. And the aliens will be able to respond quickly and achieve in minutes full air superiority over the area, risking aerial bombardments on our men. It will be a suicide mission: by the time the aliens respond to the attack on the Pyramid, I'll doubt that there will be much left of the team".  

"Unless we make an air drop using flying suits. That will reduce the time needed to deploy in case the aliens on the Pyramid respond in a matter of seconds to the attack on the City. They can also use the suits to keep themselves constantly on the move, making it harder for the aliens to pin and destroy them". Johnson nodded as he heard Illyuschenko's comments. 

The other officers also agreed with the plan although some still had some reservations. Illyuschenko continued. "But we need to decide on who will perform the diversionary attack". 

He scanned over the group of officers. "I need someone who has the most experience on hit and run attacks". Looking directly at each officer he continued, his voice now showing also a deep tiredness. "That team will have to try to stay alive for how long as it can, since they can expect no help and every second they gain is vital to us". 

As his eyes came to rest upon Johnson he remained looking at him longer than he had at the other officers. When he spoke, his voice came with pain. "Colonel, you might not know how sorry I am for asking us this: can you do the diversionary attack and draw the alien's attention while we assault the Pyramid?"

Without thinking, Johnson nodded. "Yes sir". He barely gave any attention to what might happen to him personally although a trace of fear went afterwards over him. 

Closing his eyes for a second, Illyuschenko whispered, so low that even Johnson couldn't hear. _Spassibo!_

Now speaking louder for anyone to hear, he continued. "You're one of my best teams, Colonel Johnson, otherwise I wouldn't be asking you this. I hope that you make it back alive but if not we will make the aliens pay for everyone who died on this war". The other officers' eyes became filled with determination. 

March 8th, 2002

Far Side of the Moon

As the Large Scout moved across the side of the gigantic alien Mothership parked on the Moon's orbit, number One felt amazement at the size of the fleet. He was standing at an observation lounge on the mammoth ship where the hull of the ship would become transparent at a wave of a hand on a certain section of the wall allowing him to stand in the middle of space. Into every direction he could see the bright dots that marked the UFOs parked on the Moon's orbit. 

The aliens had brought him to the giant ship after meeting one of the smaller craft, which had avoided detection by Earth's forces and landed at a pre-arranged location. One wasn't sure if the entire pick-up arrangement and the stay at the ship was the aliens' way of showing some courtesy or if it was their way to stating who was in charge. The communications from the aliens had been fairly neutral at a first glance and even the Sectoid officer who had been in command of the Scout vessel had seemed completely oblivious of his presence. 

The moment he had set foot upon the larger vessel about a week ago he had been become bewildered by its size and crew. The kilometers long length of cigar-shaped craft was composed of dozens of decks and they seemed to be filled by thousands of aliens. 

As he had walked through the ship he recognized all of the races that had been reported to operate on Earth but there were also some surprises that the Group had no idea of their previous existence. There were the tall muscular green figures of Mutons, the majority of them. They were apparently the race responsible for security since they were the only ones who carried weapons. In some cases they also had canine like aliens held tightly next to them by leashes. The creatures' body was spiked and when they opened their mouths they revealed rows of sharpened fangs. 

As one of them turned to face One, the Sectoid officer sent a telepathic message sent a brisk warning for him to ignore it. He immediately turned his eyes off the beast and resumed his examination of the creatures onboard. The Floaters and Snakemen aboard seemed to be engaged into menial work, carrying equipment and supplies over the ship while Sectoids could be seen manning consoles. The Ethereals had been completely hidden from view but he had seen other beasts that looked more terrifying While the Ethereals' body was usually covered with robes in their cases the bipedal figures had nothing to cover their body, which was full of cybernetic implants. 

He even saw a large figure at the distance in one of the corridors that the Sectoids seemed to fear more that the Ethereals. Unfortunately, it was moving away from him and it quickly disappeared into one of the side corridors. He decided that he should know more about these new races. Their reduced number showed that they performed highly specialized roles within the hierarchy of the alien society. But just what those might be, he wondered now.

At the distance one of the lights that competed with the bright stars on the horizon brought him back to the deck as it started to increase its speed. Another smaller craft started to head in the same direction. Those would be part of the strike force detached to hit the X-Com complex on Japan, One realized as he recalled the strategic discussions of the morning. 

The aliens had requested his assistance in the final phases of the project, which called for the elimination of any rogue forces still fighting the aliens. Of course, they would leave some units and countries still intact to make an example for the others when the alien landings started. 

March 9th, 2002

Xanthe Terra, Mars

The holographic display mounted on the pilot's station on the _Avenger's cockpit reflected the orange tone of the Martian dust, with green symbols glowing on the air, giving indications to Clark about its speed and direction._

The three Avengers that composed Tiger flight had just entered the massive sandstorm that was covering the planet's Northern hemisphere. The antigravity drive used to propel the Avengers kept the craft relatively undisturbed from the two hundred plus velocity of the strong winds that were raging around the Martian atmosphere. However the mass of the dust particles would sometimes press enough to cause small deviations on the craft's flight path, keeping Clark and the other pilots absorbed into keeping into their straight course. 

But that wasn't too easy also. Since they were on Mars and there was no GPS network to determine their position that left the navigators with few options. One would be to use a computer and a magnetic compass aligned with the Martian North pole; the navigator would take note of the distance covered by a calculation of the time and speed in each leg of the journey. However Mars didn't really have a magnetic field like Earth and the calculations were prone to errors. 

The remaining option was even more archaic: to use the landscape for guidance like sailor on Earth had done before the invention of the compass. However the storm had turned all visibility close to zero, making it impossible to discern any features in the maelstrom of orange and yellow airborne particles. And the whole matter was risky, since to avoid detection the Avengers were flying as close to the ground as possible. 

One serious mistake and the craft could plunge into the side of a plateau although most likely the crew would detect that they were flying too close to the ground. They needed to clear the high terrain of the south before being able to drop. 

When Seymour told Clark that Tiger flight had finally reached the low level plains of Acidalia Planitia felt relieved. According to the flight briefing the whole area was the bed of an ocean that had long disappeared, with few elevations. 

As Clark took the Avenger lower he felt relieved. The storm wasn't engulfing the ground completely as it did to the atmosphere leaving the first two hundred feet above ground level clear.

With a movement of his hand, he continued to lower the _Avenger's altitude, taking the plane away from the hurricane that was raging the atmosphere. Soon the holographic display was filled with a dark red barren landscape where the only visible features were ancient impact craters of meteorites._

"Tell me which way to Cydonia Seymour". The co-pilot was already using the geographical features to check for their position, using satellite photographs of the area taken by the _Odyssey probe. After a couple of seconds a green beacon appeared on display in front of him. But when he looked at the bearing and the distance he knew that something was wrong. _

"Colonel, please come up front". He called on the radio while correcting the course to the new indications. A few seconds afterwards Johnson entered the small cockpit area through the hatch built on its back. Patterson was following him but, due to the lack of space, he had to poke his head through the opening. "What's happening Clark?"

"We must have made a navigation error while we were flying blind on that storm sir. We are far northern than we should be. I'm sorry sir but I think our timetable just turned into dust". 

Johnson didn't respond for a second. Then he asked. "Are the _Challenger and the__ Majestic still with us?"_

"They have followed us all the way. The tachyon detector is picking them moving behind us and clearing the storm. Even if they detected the course change they couldn't warn us due to the hyperwave blackout. But the short range laser transmitters should work now that we are clear of the blizzard". 

"Give me an ETA as soon as possible and inform the _Challenger and the __Majestic of what's happened as soon as you can contact them". Moving back to the hatch he crossed it and turned to Patterson. "What do you think Mike?"_

"The whole plan just went down the drain. Even if we reach Cydonia before the Commander hits the Pyramid we can't risk attacking. We would just be tipping off the aliens and instead of them reacting to us they would divert their forces towards the Pyramid". He shook his head.

Johnson started giving small punches into the hull of the Avenger. "I'm thinking that we should scrub this diversionary attack and head directly towards the Pyramid to help Bear team. They will be badly outnumbered already".

"Either way we can't use the hyperwave to inform them of what just happened. But that would risk alerting the aliens to our presence". Patterson looked to the ceiling and after thinking for one long second he shook his head and replied. "It's your call Colonel".

After considering all possibilities, Johnson spoke. "We'll stick to the original plan. We don't know if they also haven't been delayed by the storm. We'll just have to see who gets there first, if they or us and decide then".

The Pyramid, Cydonia Mensae, Mars

_Here it ends. Inside the __Protector Illyuschenko had just been informed that the first wave of Avengers was approaching the landing zone, located on the east side of the massive building that stood nearly one kilometer tall. _

He had been preoccupied when he had found out when Bondarenko had told him that Tiger hadn't performed its diversionary drop on the City but it was no time to turn back now. Half of the strike force was now about to land on the ground while the other Avengers would stay a couple more minutes airborne and use the weapons mounted on their wings to suppress the alien's defenses. 

"The _Valiant has landed. Colonel MacTaggert is deploying". With his head uncovered by the helmet of the flying suit Illyuschenko nodded to Bondarenko. Looking over the rest of the men in the cargo area he saw all of them locking their helmets into position and checking their weapons. Even the psis from Area 51 were getting ready, snapping ammo clips into their plasma pistols and locking the psiamps to the sockets built into their power suits. _

Illyuschenko was surprised for one minute as he saw the orange ground of Mars on a view port. His instinct told him that the craft was making an abrupt turn and that he was about to be projected but he repressed the feeling and the natural reaction to it. The artificial gravity inside the Avenger steadily gripped his feet against the metal floor although he still felt the attraction of Mars' gravity. 

As the _Protector_ completed its maneuver it discharged the plasma cannon it was carrying on the left wing. The light of the blast as it left the barrel of the weapon briefly illuminated everyone inside the craft. 

Traveling fast, the ionized particles of the Elerium fuelled plasma hit the side of the massive Pyramid that seemed to dwarf the Avenger. Sand and rock were thrown down the side of the building as the pilot was already moving the craft away and clearing the area for the other Avengers still airborne to perform their own attack runs. 

Illyuschenko was watching the whole aerial battle when Bondarenko came through the lock of the cockpit.  The tone of his next words was somber. "The aliens are reacting. A large number of UFOs is getting ready at the Fort". 

Closing his eyes for one second Illyuschenko felt a brief fear but to his surprise it wasn't of death. It was of failing on his task no matter how much he tried. "Beam the warning to Tiger in case they are still out there and tell the pilot to bring the craft down. Let's finish this". 

Acidalia Planitia, Mars

"Red Dawn! Red Dawn!" The voice on the hyperwave transmitter distracted Clark as he was making the last turn over a range of low-level peaks. The yellow elevations marked the separation between the plateau of Chryse Planitia and the lowlands of Acidalia Planitia, which were thought to be an ancient ocean bed and stood on the West of Cydonia. The color of the flat rusted terrain underneath the craft had also started to change into a more brownish tone. 

A projection of Mars' Northern Hemisphere was being displayed on the front of Clark and Seymour with blue symbols indicating the position of Tiger force. It started to become more filled with icons, as the Avengers on Bear flight start to transmit their information. 

"We're late alright", Clark said with disgust. "Seymour, check the Fort for the Battleships. Colonel, the attack has started".

A couple of seconds later the co-pilot replied. "Tachyon scans show that a number of UFOs are starting to increase the output of their engines, apparently getting ready for take-off. There is also activity in the Pyramid". 

"What's the status of the strike force?" Colonel' Johnson asked on the radio.

After some more seconds, Seymour reported again, now more relaxed. "All craft have reached the target area. Some are nearly completing the process of disembarking their troops". Something the threat detector made him paused. His voice raised an octave. "Confirmed: our own sensors are picking up hyperwave transmissions from the UFOs. They are scrambling to respond to the attack on the Pyramid. ETA: less than five minutes". 

"What's the count?" Seymour's voice faltered once as he started to enumerate the types of UFOs detected and their numbers. "Total: over thirty enemy craft deployed, with more than fifteen Battleships detected". 

"Bear is outnumbered!" Clark spoke the obvious but Johnson' request came a moment later. "Have they started to react?"

"Affirmative Colonel. The General has issued orders for some to perform attack runs on the Pyramid before they head out to meet the UFOs". 

Hearing something on the radio channel Clark jumped into the report. "Incoming transmission from Bear, sir. I'll put it on this channel". 

A moment of silence followed then Illyuschenko's voice was heard. "Attention Tiger Flight. We are engaging the alien forces. Code Violet. Switch to reserve status and stay concealed until we call for you. _Odyssey will move into the horizon in ten minutes. Use it to report your own status. Over and out"._

On the crew compartment of the _Avenger Johnson frowned as he heard the Commander's indications. Code Violet meant that they should land in the vicinity of the area and avoid detection until further notice. They were now the only thing close to reinforcements available to Bear, in case anything unexpected happened to them during the ground assault. _

He preferred to be out there in the Pyramid and aiding on the assault since they hadn't been able to launch the surprise attack that would distract a big portion of the aliens' forces. The whole plan was starting to have problems from its start. 

Markovitch came near him. "I hope that Bear can pull it off. Things will be getting hot with all those Battleships arriving at the scene". Something clicked inside Johnson while he spoke but he couldn't tell why. There was a factor that they were overlooking, he could tell but he didn't know what it was. 

She detected his apprehension and asked. "What are you thinking about?"

"There's something here that doesn't quite fit the picture. And I don't know if it's just that I keep thinking that we should be heading to help them". 

The Pyramid, Cydonia Mensae, Mars

It wasn't Egypt but to Illyuschenko it was strikingly similar. He had actually been to the country in the 1970's in a mission to provide training to Egypt's special forces and he had seen the Pyramids there. Only this one was more than the double in size when compared with the largest one in the Gizeh plateau. 

And from its orange colored side a number of platforms could be seen at the distance all over the building that were in no doubt connected to the inside. Plasma fire was coming from them and heading towards the X-Com troopers and tanks that were racing to the pyramid. 

As he cleared the ramp of the Avenger, Illyuschenko headed towards one of the hovertanks that had been brought all the way from Earth. The automated fighting vehicle was hovering seven feet over the sandy soil and waiting for instructions. More of the ellipsoidal shapes of the tanks could be seen at the distance where they were supporting the advance of the soldiers. Bondarenko's command squad was already waiting for him behind the tank. When he arrived the hovertank started to move with the soldiers using it for cover. 

As the group of troopers moved they passed by an area that had been already cleared of aliens by the squads that had first deployed. And there were enough remains of the fighting. Fallen figures littered the area, most of them aliens but some in the dust covered white power suits while black marks and holes on the ground displayed the effects of plasma weapons and explosives.

As they passed the side of a small ridge they saw five dead Snakemen lying on the ground, some with their bifid tongues sticking out of their mouths. An X-Com trooper also was close to them but it seemed to be missing his helmet and head. 

The group slowed for a moment but Bondarenko ordered all to keep moving. Their target was a large crater on the vicinity of the Pyramid. The thermal pictures taken by the _Odyssey _had shown it to be one of the main entrances to the building. They would storm the Pyramid from there while using the rim of the crater for cover. 

As they moved on the trail of the forward platoons, with the increasing Pyramid in front of them, the carnage left by the fighting increased. Scores of dead aliens littered the ground, accompanied by a few human corpses as they climbed the two hundred feet tall edge of the crater. They were mostly brown Snakemen and purple Floaters.

As they reached the top, Illyuschenko dropped into the steep inclined terrain in front of him, his head turned upwards to the orange and brown sky. The atmosphere seemed to be full of green lighting and explosions as the Avengers of Bear force engaged the UFO fleet to protect the soldiers on the ground and prevent the aliens to reinforce the area. 

A stray plasma shot blew sand in front of him and he ducked again. Around him Bondarenko and another soldier suddenly turned to the left and replied to the shot, hitting a Floater that had been mistakenly presumed as dead by the advancing X-Com troops. The alien died and its caped body slid down the wall until it rested on the bottom. 

Looking at the direction of the towering figure of the Pyramid on the horizon and into the basin of the crater, Illyuschenko saw the entrance to the alien base. It was an opening on the ground, which stood at the end of an inclined ramp that had been dug by the aliens. It looked large enough for a medium sized UFO to use as and entrance. 

Looking to both sides he saw troopers in power suits moving down the rim of the crater, together with the few hovertanks that they had brought along. The floor of the depression became filled with laser beams and plasma bolts. The small figures now retreating aliens could barely be seen but it seemed that they were trying to reach the entrance. 

Then he looked upwards again as one Avenger crashed into the massive construction, with the explosion momentarily lighting its side. "Commander, that was the _Akagi_!" Bondarenko shouted to him on the radio as the remains of the craft rained down the Pyramid's side. "We need to get to the entrance. The Avengers won't be able to protect us much more".

But Illyuschenko wasn't looking at him. "Pull back the leading squads!" He quickly ordered in horror. 

The momentary blast had also briefly revealed to him movement coming from the inside of the base. He had first wrongly interpreted as darkness but now he could see that it was a wave of dark aliens emerging from the opening and racing towards the human soldiers. "Chryssalids!"

Far Side of the Moon

When the aliens inside the alien Mothership had turned frenzy all of a sudden and One realized that something important was happening. The feeling was also present on the pair of unarmed Sectoid officers who served as his personal escort. 

Turning towards one of them he asked for what was the source that was causing such the commotion in the aliens and demanded to be taken to the bridge. 

After a second later the alien replied to him telepathically and refused his request. One also caught a deep fear inside the creature and wondered if it had just been in direct mental communication with one of the Ethereals. Those creatures projected an aura of terror around them that affected everyone. And while the other races seemed to see his presence around the ship more or less normal, the thin and tall aliens showed nothing but plain contempt towards him. 

A slight impression on his body told One something more significant. The massive craft had started to leave the Moon's orbit. The Sectoids stared with their dull and lidless eyes at him without providing any explanation. 

Moving down the corridor he went for the red lift that connected to the observation lounge. As he looked over his shoulder he saw that the Sectoids had stayed beyond but they also didn't stopped him. 

When the upward movement finally brought him to the metal area he quickly passed a hand through one portion of the metal wall close to the lift. The outer hull of the craft seemed to dissolve into the darkness of space revealing the Moon's surface that was slowing passing under the craft. 

It was as he had felt, One realized in shock. The Mothership and the alien fleet had started to move. Something very wrong was happening because the main body of the ships was supposed to stay on the Moon's orbit. 

A sound behind told him that an alien had also used the lift. He expected one of the Sectoids but as he turned he saw an Ethereal clad on its red robe stepping outside the lift, followed by a violet faced Muton, who was also wearing a uniform of a similar color. That struck One as extremely unusual. He had spotted before that particular alien: it was the only one of its race that wore a different color on it's clothing. Could it mean that it was some sort of high-ranking officer, probably the only one on the Mutons? This was both frightening and exciting since at the same time he would have an opportunity to look closer into the aliens' society. 

They only had limited information on the Sectoid Hierarchy and badly needed more information about the other races. And one of the assignments of his mission to the ship was exactly that. However, more pressing matters needed his attention. 

_Why are we moving?_ The alien's telepathic response came immediately after he had thought his question. 

_You have failed us!_ As the words formed into his own mind, One felt confusion. _I don't understand. What has happened?_ Something very wrong had happened: either the aliens had decided to completely betray them now or some disturbing event had just taken place on Earth. 

_Your species will die!_ The Ethereals' death warrant made the Muton standing next to it start moving towards Number One. In panic he started to step back but after some paces he hit the wall of the craft. He was trapped. 

Stretching his long and muscular arm, the Muton grabbed and lifted him by the throat. The strength of the alien made it almost impossible for him to breathe. Grabbing with both hands the arm of the Muton he tried to release himself from the creature's grip by scratching and hitting the limb of the creature with his nails and hands.

But to no avail. A few seconds later his larynx started to break until it was finally crushed. His eyes opened wide as he found that he was unable to breathe. One finally died when the strength of red dressed Muton handgrip snapped his neck vertebrae and the spinal cord inside them. 

The Pyramid, Cydonia Mensae, Mars

The alien trap was costing dearly to Bear team. Illyuschenko watched in horror as entire squads that had advanced too much were being surrounded and overwhelmed by the hundreds of Chryssalids who had stormed from the opening. 

The main body of the X-Com force had managed to somewhat form a line to contain the aliens but not everyone had been able to reach it. The leading elements that were wearing flying suits activated the anti-gravity device and managed to reach safe positions but the other had only their legs to try to escape. 

The dark exoskeletons of the creatures felt down or were completely blown into pieces as the soldiers with blaster launchers used their powerful weapon to try to stop the alien advance. But new creatures quickly replaced the holes on the alien ranks, with their claws balancing in front of their bodies as they run. 

The lead soldiers stood and kept firing until the aliens took them down. In some cases explosions followed afterwards, revealing that they had somehow managed to activate a grenade in an attempt to die before from being impregnated to breed new aliens. As the last white form disappeared on a crowd of aliens, Illyuschenko issued an order. "All fire-support squads concentrate firing on the locations where our soldiers were". 

He saw then that the remaining laser HWPs had stopped to buy time for the troopers to regroup in a line that forming a hundred yards away from him by the base of the crater's walls. When the aliens swarmed the tank as it kept pumping laser rounds at close range until it finally went dead. 

It had been brought to exploit the laser vulnerability that the alien Sectopod tanks had. Now one of the Chryssalids stood standing over its wrecked turret, raising its claws as if it was enjoying its kill. In rage, Illyuschenko lined up his heavy plasma and fired a blast that hit the devilish creature on its main body and drop to the ground next to the dead hulk of the tank. 

It took them several precious minutes before the platoons were able to take out the Chryssalids. In a couple of places the aliens managed to reach the line and wreck considerable damage before they were killed. And as the last ranks of aliens charged sand covered white figures could be seen walking besides them, the soldiers who had been impregnated and now were nothing more that walking Chryssalid cradles. 

When Bondarenko stopped firing his weapon after the last of the aliens had been killed, the Colonel simply spoke out. "Lady in Heaven!"

"Save your prayers comrade". Illyuschenko was pointing to the plain where they had landed. When Bondarenko turned he saw three Battleships and a number of smaller ships touching down. And sudden green lightning coming from the entrance told him that there were still aliens left inside. Bear force was about to become trapped between the aliens carried inside the UFOs and the ones inside the Pyramid. "Commander!"

Illyuschenko stood silent. _Here it ends_. _One way or the other!_ "Commander!" Bondarenko's voice started to show deep anxiety and it irritated Illyuschenko. _We are going to die here, haven't you seen it yet?_

Packs of heavily armed Mutons could be seen deploying from the entrance. The aliens had left their shock troops to the end. _And I need to lie and convince you otherwise. So shall it be. The last time._

"Call Tiger for assistance. Deploy two platoons to hold out the western wall against the alien reinforcements and order the remaining platoons to prepare to attack the opening". Bondarenko snapped at the brisk commands in surprise but immediately started issuing orders. 

_Now, where's that gun?_ Dropping his hand to his hip he gave a small tap on the plasma pistol that he had there. _Not yet._

Close to the City, Cydonia Mensae, Mars

The order had finally come through out the radio and the three Avengers of Tiger Force were starting to lift from their positions on the outskirts of the City. They were heading to help Bear who had been trapped while attempting to break through to the Pyramid's inside and find the alien Brain. 

Moving his hands on the air, Clark cancelled the upward motion of the _Avenger and the large craft stood suspended on the air like a dragonfly. With a motion of his right hand he aligned the __Avenger towards the direction of the Pyramid while on its flanks the other two craft performed the same maneuver. _

When he was done he pushed his other gloved hand forward while at the same time he started to raise the craft's altitude to clear the terrain and allow them to reach Bear as fast as possible. They were finally getting out in the open where the aliens could see them but there was no need for deception anymore. 

Looking over the small view port built on the fuselage of the Avenger, Johnson saw the formations of the City far away, barely visible on the brownish landscape that now seemed to melt with the pinkish sky. The winds above were moving the clearing on the dust storm and the darkness was slowly covering the area as the airborne particles overhead blocked the sunlight, engulfing the area on a reddish penumbra. 

The peaks of the small pyramids that littered the City were still visible though, more than ten miles away. They seemed more like natural formations than artificial alien constructions at this distance and under the minimal light. Johnson remembered that if everything had gone according to the plan they would be inside them by now. 

The now dead plan, he remembered it with disgust. Now they were in the hands of fate. Looking away from the view port he saw Markovitch seated down with her eyes closed. 

She seemed as if she was trying to relax before what was probably their final mission. If they didn't broke through the cluster of alien ships around the Pyramid and helped Bear reach the Brain it would be pointless to make it back to Earth. He didn't notice the lines of stress building around her eyelids. 

The whole thing seemed hopeless to Johnson. The aliens hadn't even deployed half of their forces on the Face and they would still have a tough time fighting the ones at the Pyramid. Two Avengers had already been shot down and…. More than half of their strength still not deployed? The realization came to him as a shockwave and he rushed to try to understand why they were holding back. 

Next to him Markovitch had by now completely given up on trying to relax. Something was close to her inside her mind, making her very uncomfortable and giving her goose bumps. First she had put it to the fact that she was picking up the fear and anxiety of the near thirty persons that were onboard the _Avenger._

But a twist on her stomach told her that it was something else, completely different. She was felling a sensation of massive vertigo that overwhelmed her and made it hard to breathe. And she started to hear whispers coming from all directions but the voices weren't of anyone onboard the craft. Concentrating on what they were saying she felt repulsion and the feeling almost made her puke again as she identified a voice that rose above all others. The mental image lasted for less than a second before she opened her eyes wide.

 "The Brain!" The call made everyone onboard the _Avenger to look at her. It also momentarily distracted Johnson before another voice caught his full attention. Clark seemed distressed as he spoke. "Sir! We have more than twenty Battleships getting ready to lift at the Face. Their hyperwave transponders show that there are heading to our location!"_

That gave Johnson the final piece of the puzzle but before he could say it Markovitch spoke first. "The Brain is not in the Pyramid! It's close, I can sense it! It must be on the City!"

André Galvão, 2002 


	33. Crimson Death

X-Com - The Unknown Menace

Chapter Thirty-Two – Crimson Death

March 9th, 2002

The City, Cydonia, Mars

The three Avengers of Tiger Force swept in low from the south with the pilots directly bringing the craft into the middle of the cluster of pyramidal formations and mounds that was called the "City" because of their number and disposition. Instead of performing an airdrop using the flying suits worn by all the members of Johnson's team like it had been first planned, the Avengers would bring them directly close to one of the five-pointed pyramids in the area. They couldn't lose time regrouping after the landing. 

The sandstorm blowing on the upper northern atmosphere had started to engulf the whole Cydonia area in orange blackness although in the Martian day's 24 hours it was only about noon. It was close to a heavily overcast and blown by the wind day on Earth. But instead of the gray, the sky had been engulfed in a deep orange tone and its whole seemed to swirl in every direction. On the surface, the sand lifted by the gutsy surface winds gave the impression that the landscape being alive, as it formed small circles and flew through over the hard clay terrain. 

The swirling wind played with the dunes, only visible for their features as they were also of the same color of the orange and crimson sand, occasionally with the addition of green lighting that contrasted heavily with the background, flashing briefly. 

As the formation of Avengers flew over the center of the City in a reconnaissance run, a number of plasma shots came from the ground, fired by the aliens. However, the sporadic anti-aircraft fire from the alien's weapons was ineffective against the thick armored hulls of the craft, with the green energy of the few hits quickly dissipating harmlessly over their fuselage. 

As Clark lead the _Avenger in a circle around the area, he tried to find the most possible location for the building that might house the Brain. On the back of the craft Markovitch was trying to detect which formation was housing it also using her psionic powers but so far she hadn't said anything on the channel. _

As the Avengers finished their aerial sweep of the City, Markovitch finally gave up, saying to Clark that its mental presence was on every building. Clark then decided to head towards the largest pyramid on the area. The other two _Avengers broke to the left following him, with the three craft flying a few feet over the tips of the quasi-geometrical buildings. _

"Colonel, I'm bringing her down. Initiating decompression procedures". The door on the hatch behind him started to shut down to ensure the tightness of the cockpit while the main portion of the craft was decompressed. In matching the inside atmospheric pressure to the thin level of the Martian one it would be possible to disembark from the Avengers' rear ramp instead of only through the airlock on the craft's starboard flank. 

"I've counted more than thirty Sectoids on the ground. And there's Disks also". Seymour said as he finished the scan he had been performing. "Gonna be a hot LZ this time". 

"Every LZ is hot until we get out of it!" Both men grinned and shook their heads in mock disbelief. 

On the passenger area the twenty soldiers of Second and Third Platoons immediately locked the faceplates on their helmets and sealed their armored suits. A red light came live on the ceiling, although because of the orange light coming from the view ports it burned in yellow-white. After a couple of seconds it switched off and below a green lit up. The X-Com soldiers started positioning themselves facing the rear ramp as the hissing of the decompression began to be heard. All of the junk that had fallen into the floor grating during the weeks' journey to Mars suddenly were sucked of its places and flew towards the back of the craft as made a short, final turn. 

A thump and a feeling on their boots told the soldiers that the _Avenger had touched down. The rear ramp immediately lowered itself down from its upward position to the ground, giving the two lead troopers of Kappa squad their first glimpse of Cydonia, in the form of a massive pyramid. "Touch and go people, let's go! We aren't paid by the hour!" The voice of Sergeant Krenon prompted them forwards. _

As the soldiers started stepping down the ramp of the _Avenger, the cockpit of the __Challenger could had already be seen as the craft was setting down twenty feet behind and with its rear facing the right side. The __Majestic also completed his touchdown on the left side. _

It was visible that the pyramid chosen by Clark had suffered massive erosion on its surface that had turned most of the sides into dust-covered rubble. However, the straight geometric configuration was still plainly visible, with the triangular side raising several hundred feet above the ground. 

The top of the pyramid was missing and instead there was only an irregular platform more than three hundred feet high. As Lt. Digriz finally stepped on the ground immediately after the point troopers he saw plasma fire coming from the top of the pyramid. He brought his plasma rifle to reply to it but Markovitch's voice stopped his motion. 

"Digriz, Clark says there are Sectoids at the front firing at the cockpit. Take your squad and clear them out!" Turning to the opposite direction he moved underneath the Avenger's armored belly towards the cockpit of the craft. 

At first he could only see darkness but a flare thrown by a soldier suddenly lit the features of the _Majestic to his right. The X-Com troopers over there were busy responding to shots coming from his front but he couldn't see the aliens yet. Until a flare thrown by one of his men went skidding over the sand and landed a few feet in front of the craft. _

As Digriz was racing to one of the landing pads of the craft he saw the large head of a Sectoid firing its heavy plasma at cockpit of the _Majestic. He didn't need to warn his soldiers about it since Bartfast had already raised his heavy plasma. A single round hit the alien on the side of its body making it drop the weapon. As the alien felt to the ground the greenish blood that was coming from its wound quickly disappeared since the atmospheric pressure was too small for the water on it to remain on a liquid state. _

But before it hit the ground the blast of a close by grenade made the alien disappear in a flash. The X-Com soldier closer to it was shaken as it went off ten feet away from him. His voice came a second later. "I'm losing air!"

"Sharkey, get it fixed and stay down!" Digriz tried to find the alien who had thrown the grenade but he could only see rocks and the rims of small meteoric craters. At the distance more pyramids could be seen against the darkened sky.

Another flare thrown by Bartfast resolved the situation. 

It landed close to one of the impact craters, revealing a Sectoid as it raised himself of another crater. Its dark eyes become yellow from the reflection of the flare's light as it turned his heavy plasma to Digriz. But a laser shot took the alien with its shape disappearing as it felt back to the inside of the crater. 

As Digriz and Turner approached the alien's position, Bartfast went over to Sharkey and took out a blue plastic cylinder from his belt ten inches long. The trooper had been hit on the leg and although it hadn't made any serious injury, the suit was losing heat and air through the hole. Breaking the cylinder with both his hands, Bartfast dropped the viscous content over the two inches hole until it was completely covered. The canister contained a plastic substance that had been designed to temporarily seal any breaches and it quickly hardened itself. X-Com's scientists had developed it for the fighting on Mars, based on an idea proposed before for manned missions to the planet.  

Meanwhile, on the front of the Avengers the troopers who were assaulting the front pyramid were encountering sniper fire coming from the top of the alien structure. As King and Rumpole had exited the _Avenger they had immediately dropped into a firing position to cover Second Platoon's advance. But they were finding out that the aliens were using a chamber that was apparently inside the pyramid from which the aliens were firing using window sized openings. _

Finding it hard to track the aliens inside due to the darkness both switch to IR view but found out that the dust in the air was also clouding the infrared channel. Both of their golden salvos from their heavy lasers missed the aliens altogether, with the heat of the amplified light turning the sand into glass. 

A blast bolt that came a moment later from the top of the pyramid hit one of the running X-Com soldiers below. He plunged into the ground with another soldier of his squad immediately coming towards him. 

King tried to hit the alien who had fired the deathly shot but as he scanned the window he could only see darkness again. 

"Where the fuck is Eta?" Rumpole swore as she also scanned nervously into the same direction looking for the hidden alien to pop up again. King was about to answer when he quickly detected a distinctive sound. 

He wasn't sure if his peripheral vision had caught a glimpse of movement from the "bee bee". But as he was considering the possibility, the blaster bomb had already blasted away the top of the pyramid. He had already taken his sight from the scope built into the heavy laser as the explosion sent small avalanche of sand and metallic debris down the side of the pyramid. "These guys have the finesse of a hammer". Rumpole's comment made him reply. "As long as it works". 

**********

When Johnson finally stepped down on the Martian clay soil after clearing the ramp of the _Avenger a plasma bolt made him and Crossett duck as it hit the wing of the craft. But neither bothered to go for their weapons and run away as the human ship started to ascend. As they crossed the landing zone Johnson looked upwards towards the direction of the Fort and noticed with dread the yellow lights that seemed to resemble the Sun's disk, hidden under the cloud overhead. _

The fighting had already moved away from the landing zone as the X-Com troopers were trying to establish a safety perimeter. Still he could still see a Cyberdisk hovering about at a distance, a small figure against the side of one of the orange buildings. As it lowered itself it disappeared behind one of the ground mounds that were close to the landing area. 

Crossett moved to cover him from any straight shots coming from there as they walked towards Patterson and White, who were both right by a set of big rocks that offered some protection. In the area there were also Hopkins and some of his soldiers of fire support platoon, most of them sporting blaster launchers ready to fire and waiting to insert coordinates into the weapons. 

Inside the pyramid whose tip had just been clipped Markovitch looked upwards the lift where she was standing by. She had sent two soldiers up there to check if there was any hidden chamber on the upper levels of the building. The ground level of the pyramid had proven nothing but five corridors leading into every face with a central room where the lift was located. She couldn't see the troopers but a moment afterwards a call came to her telling what she already suspected. 

"2nd Platoon reports that the central pyramid isn't what we were looking for". White's indication almost caused no response in Patterson or Johnson who were already busy scanning the battlefield. As he scanned across the landscape taking note of the other buildings nearby he saw the immobile figures of 1st Platoon as they waited in their positions for orders to deploy. Then a rumble made him look upwards. 

Onboard the _Avenger, Clark could only wish that he had Harris flying by him since the man used to get alive of such impossible odds. The three Avengers had broken up their formation as the flotilla of alien Battleships descended on them coming from the Face. They were trying to get as many as possible away from the landing area since it would be suicide to try to defend it. _

The three craft had headed for the hilly terrain near the city to the southwest in the hope of throwing off its pursuers but Clark was having a bad time doing it. According to Seymour they still had three Battleships on their tail as he suddenly cut the craft to the right into a brown canyon. "Tell me when!" 

As Clark kept jerking around the craft to prevent the alien pilots from getting a weapons lock into them, Seymour kept checking the rearview projection. "Shit!" When the curse came Clark immediately increased his altitude and reached the UFO's level as they sped five hundred meters beyond him and just over the canyon. 

The discharges of the alien plasma weapons went below the _Avenger and missed it. Large portions of the canyon's sandy soil erupted as the blasts hit the ground. Then as Clark brought the craft again in the relative safety of the canyon the radio went active. "This is the __Challenger! I've been hit! Requesting assistance!" Clark gave one look to Seymour and the co-pilot started to check the other craft's position. _

***********

The first attack run of the Battleships that had remained behind in the City filled the avenue where Johnson and the others were racing with destruction. They had abandoned all of their positions and had warned the other platoons about the imminent aerial bombardment. Now the X-Com soldiers had all abandoned the clear terrain of the main streets inside the ancient city and were trying to find shelter inside the pyramid buildings and artificial mounds that littered the area. 

In the orange lit world where the human troopers only a complete darkness meant life for them as it usually revealed the positions of the openings to the buildings. Unfortunately in some cases their former alien owners were still around. 

As the Elerium weapon of the first ship detonated after being discharged from the side of the craft it produced a quick dissipating fireball. It crossed across the entire length of the street as it burned into a flash the few oxygen atoms present in the Martian atmosphere. As it moved over the armored suits of the humans its effect was negligible. However the Sectoids fared far worse since their bare skin offered no protection to the flames.

The hit craved a large crater on the brownish soil nearby a pyramid. The blast wave from the Elerium explosion hit the sand covered side of the building and it provoked an avalanche that partially covered the newly formed depression. It failed to hit any of the X-Com soldiers but the ones still racing for cover were tossed around like toys. 

When Johnson was suddenly turned to the ground as he raced on the side of a pyramid close to the impact area the next thing he felt was Crossett's bulk landing on his back. Then the firewall passed by him and kept moving until it caught two Sectoids that were standing by a close mound. Their orange pale skin suddenly turned into a dark brown. The creatures started screaming and started to run as the pain from the burns turned into intolerable. Johnson issued a warning to Crossett. "One coming our way!" The trooper quickly got of his back with his heavy plasma ready. 

When both of the aliens had been killed he turned to check for the other soldiers. One had suffered a leak on his suit and was busy sealing it back with the blue gel while others were bruised but fortunately no bones were broken. Shaking the sand off his blue plasma rifle Patterson came up to him and said: "We need to find the Brain fast!"

But Johnson was seeing something else that made him wonder. Another Battleship had just completely blown off mound where he had seen a squad taking cover. The salvo had buried itself first deep inside the building before going off. 

Sand and portions of the inner metal structure flew in every direction and the remains of the pyramid collapsed after two seconds, sending upwards a cloud of smoke and dust. 

Johnson was dismayed as nothing could be alive after that even inside a flying suit. But something else shocked him. "This doesn't make any sense". He turned and grabbed Patterson's shoulder, giving it a push and making the other man stumble of his foot. "Why would the aliens be risking aerial bombardment if the Brain is inside one of the buildings?" He demanded into the air, since Patterson was still trying to understand what had just happened. 

With a blaster launcher over his left shoulder Sergeant Hopkins had also approached both men and was looking at the wrecked building. "It gotta be someplace else then".

********** 

As Kappa squad was moving inside one of the Pyramids the lead elements blasted through the door and found a vast lift leading underground. The entire central part of the chamber where it was located in the middle of the building glowed a vivid green. As both Digriz and jumped through the door behind Sharkey lead he realized what they had just discovered. 

Unfortunately he never had a chance to tell. The Sectoid inside the chamber had pressed itself against the wall of the door to be unnoticed. Sharkey had shifted first his laser rifle to the left. The alien was on the right and the time it took him to react was enough for Digriz to step inside and place himself between the alien and Sharkey. 

They actually both fired at almost the same time with Digriz discharge of his heavy plasma a bit later. The Sectoid was projected by the blast against the wall and died right afterwards. But its shot had also breached the white armor with the plasma bursting into his lungs. His respiratory system ceased to work properly since most of the chest muscles were burned and unable to make in to inhale or exhale properly. But Digriz finally death cause was the shock done to its heart by the burn. 

***********

The reassemble order issued by Colonel Johnson at the easternmost Pyramid had sent all of the combat platoons speeding towards the specified location of the lift. However, the troopers were still encountering small pockets of aliens on their way to the building that had been found and secured by Kappa squad. 

The aliens on the surface were constantly harassing the retreating squads and delaying them while the Battleships overhead kept their low-level indiscriminate bombardment. King and Rumpole had stayed beyond to cover one of the major routes for squads who were disengaging and heading for the lift. 

Split up into two teams divided between both sides of a large street they were defending the major route for the incoming X-Com. Each one had set themselves with their weapons standing against the triangular wall. From there they were protecting every X-Com trooper that entered the street against its pursuers. 

As a group of three soldiers moved into view from one of the wide streets, King centered his scope on area from where they had just came and waited. Above him on the top and leaning against the side Deschamps also readied again his plasma rifle. 

One of the troopers was injured and was being helped by another soldier with the third one standing behind to cover them. The leading pair tried to move as fast as possible in the dusty pavement between the pyramids but the injured leg made it difficult. They had only made it halfway when the first alien moved swiftly over the corner of the building, hovering seven feet above the ground. 

The Cyberdisk's plasma cannon thundered before any of Sigma squad could react. It hit the rear soldier on the torso of his power suit and sent him reeling backwards. When he finally managed to correct his movement enough so that he could point the weapon at the mini-UFO and hit it before falling it was already late. 

Two golden light beams emerged on opposite buildings and connected themselves at the central body of the Cyberdisk. The alien hovering tank ceased to function as its artificial intelligence was destroyed and felt into the side of the pyramid. The blast from the soldier's heavy plasma would have hit the Cyberdisk if it weren't already falling so it passed above the dead hulk by inches. 

When the soldier felt to the ground King wondered what he should do to try to help him. The first pair was already reaching the relative safety of their position but the fallen trooper was at least about two hundred feet away from them. 

To his relief the soldier managed to get back on his foot and start walking again towards their position across the light orange surface. "What a lucky sob". King commented on the radio and three clicks coming from the other three positioned soldiers expressed their agreement. 

King kept its watch on the street all the time as the trooper reached their position and took cover behind the boulder that he and Deschamps were using for cover. He then spoke on the radio. "Thanks for the help. I'm Logan, Epsilon".

"4th Platoon?" King was surprised. "You guys are supposed to be on the other side". 

Logan was busy checking the ammunition level on his heavy plasma. Unsatisfied he removed the gray banana shaped clip and reached for a belt that was loaded with similar clips. "You guys need ammo? I scavenged a couple of the aliens bodies". 

"Got any grenades?" Deschamps asked and Logan reached for two on his belt and passed it to the Canadian. As he grabbed them he added. "Thanks. Nice stunt back there. Almost got you killed".

"You just need to survive the first blast. And if you don't…. well then you don't have to worry about the second". The man's casual tone made King look seriously at him, unsure if it was a joke or if he actually meant it. "We got separated from the rest of the platoon during one of the aerial strikes. Lost one of us on that one". 

"Movement!" King's call sent the other two men scrambling to get their weapons in position. However they didn't found any thing on the location from which Logan had entered the street. "The bug got back into cover". King said in frustration. 

"They are only waiting for reinforcements before they continue to pursue. They weren't expecting for their disk to die so quickly". Logan looked beyond their position and watched the pair of soldiers disappearing over a left turn that the street made. "We should head back. My squad was on rear duty. I'll doubt anymore of our guys are coming from that direction". 

King nodded and called the Colonel to notify him of his intention. He found that the majority of the platoons had already assembled on the chamber containing the lift and received orders from Major Patterson to head back. 

"Rumpole and Woodley we're bailing out. Start heading towards the lift. We'll cover you". Her response was immediate: "You sure know how to hold until the last minute King". The other members didn't understand but King's cheeks burned. "Get moving. This time we will cover for you". 

He wanted to countermand her orders and he could do it since he was the squad leader and a corporal. However, he just shook his head in acceptance and decided it would be better to start walking since she had already bested him with that comment. Both three soldiers started to move down the street. 

Then as they were about to reach the position where the ancient avenue bent around a irregular shaped mound a growing rumbling sound made them turn and watch. A Battleship had just swept in low from the direction from which they had just come. The aliens were waiting for some assistance all right, King realized. 

"Rumpole, get out of there!" As his call came on the radio the blast of the alien weapon crossed over her position, sweeping through the side of the pyramid after caving a crater on the middle of the street. He only had time to dive for the ground with the other two troopers following him. 

The shock wave of the explosion made them to roll uncontrolled over the sand. When they finally stopped moving King was the first to try to stand up, using his arms to look to Rumpole and Woodley's position. 

The area had been razed and burned and only the shape of the pyramid gave any recognition. "Rumpole! Answer me!" He started to get up facing the direction until Deschamps stopped him, throwing himself into King and grabbed him. "She's dead! They are dead! We have to go!" King shook him off. "They could have survived. We have to go back and check!"

Logan had finished standing together and retrieving his heavy plasma which had landed a few feet away from him. "He's right, let's go. Nobody could have survived that blast!"

Disregarding Logan, King also bent and grabbed his heavy laser off the ground. "Get back to the lift. I'm going after them!"

"And I thought I was the one stubbornly stupid". Logan's comment was short as he shook his head and turned to Deschamps. "Get us some cover. We are getting back there!"

**********

The chamber where the lift was located had turned itself into a provisional staging area for Tiger force. Johnson and the rest of his command squad passed by one of the squads defending the eastern entrance and into the small corridor that led them into the central area. He saw wounded soldiers standing against the walls with portions of their suits dyed in blue, marking the special suit sealant. The ubiquitous Martian dust was also present, mixing itself with the gel and turning it into a darkened substance splashed over the armor. 

Sentries had been placed on the lift to guard against any alien that might come from the underground. Johnson picked Markovitch standing next to the lift and staring at it with her plasma rifle held casually on her arms. He approached her, with Crossett next to him and keeping a keen eye on the lift. 

"It's down there, I can feel it". She simply stated. 

"How's your platoon?" She didn't reply to him for a second. Then she simply said. "Digriz, Bragg and Yu are dead". Holding her hand tighter she continued. "Let's get down there. We don't have much time left, I can feel it". 

"I'm sorry". After an awkward moment on which he didn't knew what else to say he turned to Patterson who had also listened to her. "Contact all platoon commanders. We need to know how we are doing".

Half a minute afterward he knew the situation. The aliens were converging towards the pyramid that contained the lift from every direction. The Battleships were still blasting the streets and apparently some had landed and deployed fresh troops since they had started to see Mutons and other aliens besides Sectoids. And they had sustained casualties during the landing and reassemble of the force. 

4th Platoon had lost more than half its soldiers, including Captain Hawn. The Fire Support team had lost full squad, including the lieutenant commanding it plus the hovercraft that had been brought up instead of the psi soldiers who had been assigned to Bear. Sergeant Hopkins was now in charge of the remaining two squads. The other three platoons had also suffered losses and Johnson ordered the remains of the Fourth to fill empty positions on them. 

And there were also the soldiers critically injured. In most cases they would die if they weren't evacuated to receive proper medical treatment. However that was impossible at the moment since they had received no further communication from the Avengers. They would have to be left behind, Johnson decided since they would slow the company underground. 

When the flux of incoming soldiers finally seemed to stop arriving to the rally point Johnson started to order them down. One by one the platoons positioned themselves on the lift and the soldiers started to activate the control to move downwards by movement of their arms. 

Waiting for their turn on the drop list Johnson stood next to Markovitch, who had turned completely silent and had left Sergeant Krenon with the duty of organize her platoon's deployment. They would come down after him and Sigma squad with Markovitch's platoon being the last and providing rear guard. The other platoons would try to make a safety perimeter before they started a major push into where she thought the Brain was hiding. Johnson and the other officers were all hoping that she would still be able to somehow guess its location.

They stood waiting when one of the defenders stationed at one of the doors suddenly called with a relieved voice. "There's a squad coming through!" The warning made the soldiers look to the corridors to see who had managed to survive. 

Two troopers emerged from the corridor into the lit area of the chamber. One was bearing the W symbol of Omega squad on the left chest of his armor and holding a heavy laser on his right arm. His other arm was stretched over the other soldier's back, with the forearm locked under the armpit to prevent her from falling down. The hardened dark substance form by the combination of the sealant and the Martian sand covered the power suit. 

"King?!" Johnson asked as two more soldiers walked into the room while Camay headed to check the injured trooper. In reluctance, King then turned to the Colonel. "Rumpole is dead sir. We managed to bring Woodley back but I don't think she will be able to fight for now". 

Camay nodded her agreement to Johnson. He quickly concluded that it was the only possible decision, although it would most likely mean their death. Turning to King he replied. "I'm sorry King. We will have to leave behind the critically wound or that can't move. We'll leave them weapons. They will try to have to survive as they can". 

"Colonel, I request permission to stay behind with the injured". King's response came immediately. Deschamps's voice came next. "The corporal is speaking for the rest of the squad sir. Remaining members of Omega requesting permission to protect them and slow down the alien reinforcements, including Private Deschamps".

Johnson didn't know what to reply. He looked at Logan, the last soldier who shook his head. "I'll prefer go get back to my squad if you don't mind Colonel, but it's your decision".

"Alpha is still short on one after their casualties. You'll round them up, move up since they're already….". 

"Holy shit!" White's voice made them all quiet. He had been monitoring the channels of the platoons that had already gone below. "There's some major fighting going down there!" 

**********

"Men, did we really had to be the first also on this?!" Jones question went unanswered as the Chryssalid moved into the room where he and Pershing were. First Platoon had engaged the enemy from the minute they had stepped on the underground level after a lift trip that took some seconds. 

The whole area seemed to be crawling with aliens ready for them. Soldiers had died the second they had stepped into the lift, cut by plasma fire from Ethereals who were guarding it. Others had been mind-controlled and had to be killed by hesitant companions as they started to shoot upon their teammates. 

And the minute they had killed the Ethereals, one of the two-legged furry Reapers had dashed from the chamber where he and Pershing were now standing. Its eyes were bloodshot beneath the metal bands it had covering its head. 

It had died on the corridor that linked the lift to the room where they were now, with its death wails barely audible as it was met with a wall of plasma and laser fire. But it seemed that it wasn't alone. 

The Chryssalid moved around one cylinder whose glassy inside was lit in red. There were four of them spread on the corners of the room's square inner configuration. 

The moment it became visible to both soldiers they immediately reacted. But as Jones' laser rifle fired the alien creature jumped to the right and took cover beyond the cylinder. The beam of light briefly lit the long corridor from which the thing had come.

Pershing managed to correct his aim at the fleeing figure but the burst from his heavy plasma simply hit the cylinder. The material evaporated at the contact with the ionized particles leaving a cloud of quick dissipating smoke. 

From which the Chryssalid came running at both of them, its gray dark body gleaming from the moisture still on the thing atmosphere. 

Pershing tried but he wasn't fast enough to hit the creature again. Nearly sidestepping every movement he made with his arm the Chryssalid raised its clawed upper limbs in anticipation for the strike. 

Desperately firing his laser rifle at the creature Jones was so close that he couldn't miss. The red beam burned the alien's tough carapace at its torso but it failed to stop its movement. 

Turning at the last possible moment to avoid the blast from Pershing's heavy plasma it stepped into range of him. Throwing its limbs around Pershing it seemed to actually being giving the human a hug. However it was a deadly one. The sharp end of ovipositor it carried on its torso's middle section breached into Pershing's chest armor and through the muscle tissue of his chest. The soldier gave a scream that chilled Jones and it released itself from the Chryssalids embrace a moment later. 

As the alien stepped back it was caught by the beam coming from Jones laser rifle, which panic had started to fire at everything in panic. 

The Chryssalid turned in pain to face its human opponent with a claw ready to strike but it was too late. As Jones kept his finger on the trigger the weapon went into auto mode releasing more than a dozen shots into the alien. As it dropped to the ground, Jones' rifle also went dead after the uncontrolled firing had burned the conductive material inside the barrel of the weapon. 

He stood there watching the dead creature until he felt a Pershing moving on his left and turned towards the soldier. 

The midsection of Pershing's armor now had a hole that burned crimson from the blood that was leaking from it. The bleeding was getting bad as the flow of blood turned brown at the sides but kept going down and coloring the armored legs in red. "Pershing! Jesus!" Jones reached to grab a canister of sealant on his belt. But when the other trooper started to walk towards him moving his arms and legs as if he was a puppet he realized that the alien had impregnated the soldier. 

Something refrained Jones from firing and instead he threw the canister that he was holding on his left hand. The container broke against the helmet of the zombie and released its content. 

As the gel solidified it made the zombie blind. Frantically the human figure tried ineffectively to scrap it off the visor of the helmet until finally it managed to lift the faceplate. The bloated and dead look of Pershing's eyes stared at Jones and he finally found the courage to press the trigger on his laser rifle's handle. 

**********

By the time Johnson and the rest of his squad got down, the chamber of the lift was bathed in dim green. Light coming from of plasma weapon's fire came from the corridors. The bodies of three X-Com soldiers could be seen in the room, one so close that its white arm was placed over the lightened floor of the lift. Alien bodies could be seen on most of the corridor's four entrances: red robbed Ethereals, the purple uniform mass of a Celatid as it rested dead against the metal floor and even a scorched hide of a Reaper.

As he stepped to the corridor to try to understand how the situation was he spotted a figure standing away and holding the long tube of a blaster launcher. However, unlike the ovoid carapace of a power suit a lean silhouette could be seen. Crossett issued a warning as jumped from behind Johnson and brought up his heavy plasma. Unfortunately the Ethereal moved away as the green bolt flew down the corridor into it and disappeared into the darkness. "We need to evacuate this place!" 

Markovitch immediately started ordering the soldiers towards another corridor. When she stopped at entrance of it Johnson turned to her coming from behind and said: "Keep going!"

"There are still troopers coming down the lift!" She protested as he pushed her. 

"Krenon, stay behind!" He ordered to the Sergeant as she finally started also to move. "You're much too valuable and you have to lead the way!" He explained a moment later, right before they had stepped into a dark cave. As they looked around they saw tall mounds looking like dark earth. A fluorescence was up in the air providing the few available light. 

There were strange plants on the ground, brightly colored of several colors and also at the top of the mounds, with weird branches coming down from the eight feet tall tops of the elevations. It seemed to Johnson that they had just stepped into the entrance of a maze. Soldiers of First Platoon could be seen slowly moving between. He asked on the radio. "Jerrel, what's your status?"

"Lots of aliens here sir….Ethereals and some sliding hard creature that seems more a plant". A tremor told Johnson that something big had just exploded near him. Crossett had also started to react to something and he got down and sought cover with everybody else doing the same or firing. Turning to Markovitch he said. "Get moving!"

She stood next to him holding her plasma rifle upwards to what Johnson had now seemed to be an Ethereal on the top of one mound. "But to where? And you have to come also!" 

"For now please don't worry about me, Sheila. Just get to the Brain". The radio channel went open but Johnson heard no sound for one second. Then she called. "Krenon fall up on me, let's go!"

**********

_Where are you?_ As the question run through Markovitch's mind she felt a strange commotion, as if the creature that they were looking had just stirred. 

She was sure that they were approaching it even if it seemed that they were walking without a fixed direction. As the remains of her platoon moved across the labyrinth of corridors and chambers that was buried below the City she could tell that they were getting closer. 

Even the Ethereals and the other monsters that were defending the underground seemed be fighting more fiercely in their attempts to stop the X-Com troopers. They had gotten out of the maze garden after a vicious fight with the aliens on it but had finally cleared it into reaching again a metal wall corridor. From there they had run in what seemed even to her to be turns with no sense. She just hoped that the soldiers couldn't feel her confusion as she noticed in mistakes she was making. 

She had taken again the lead of the group of soldiers that now had started to move across a large white corridor. Sergeant Krenon and Bragg were right behind her and occasionally she would fell their fear and apprehension. But it didn't distract her. While being on a base filled with aliens the human feelings gave her an anchor that allowed her to clearly filter the rest of the sensations that her psionic abilities detected. 

"Captain, I'm staying behind with Dare". Camay's voice came through the helmet's headphones. Stopping her march she turned towards the back of the small group and found the paramedic holding the injured soldier against one of the walls. "He's slowing us down".

"Can't get a better excuse to be alone with me Zeera? This is getting into a habit". Dare's comment revealed the exhaustion of the soldier. Markovitch shook her head. "No one stays…."

"Contact!" The warning came as the light of Krenon's heavy laser filled the section of the corridor where they were standing. As she turned, the dreadful figure of a skeletal Chryssalid running towards their direction made her cringe. 

Krenon's first shot had missed and hit the wall at the end of the corridor. However, the alien was too far away to be able to clear the distance that separate it from the soldiers and perform one of its obscene attacks. The confined space of the passageway soon was filled with energized photons and ionized particles as the soldiers fired nearly blindly towards the creature. It didn't even managed to clear half the distance to the humans before it several shots hit it. The Chryssalid's head bumped into one of the walls as the ghastly figure felt to the side. 

"That solves the issue. Move out!" The group kept advancing and as they reached the corner Markovitch's heart leaped as she looked into the new corridor. It was about as long as the one that they had just transverse but now there were a set of doors built into its middle. The entrance seemed wide enough to allow the Sectopod on was in front of it to pass through. 

With a movement of her hand she ordered everybody to stay put. The machine had its back turned towards them and wasn't aware of their presence since it stood motionless in front of the door.

She motioned to Krenon to come up to the front and made also a gesture with the index and the middle finger bent to represent the presence of one of the alien tanks. Camay also stepped up since she had a laser rifle. Even that would make more damage on the Sectopod than her plasma rifle. 

When both troopers got themselves into position, Krenon called after mentally counting three seconds. "Three!" The trace left in the retina by the twin laser shots shown it to be the first but by the time they appeared they had already hit the back of the machine. The Sectopod's legs immediately froze upwards as if the machine had taken an electric shock. A moment later it felt forwards, with the torso hitting the metal floor. 

Krenon and Camay waited for a moment to see if the alien was obscuring any aliens standing close. When no motion appeared they started to cautiously move step by step. Markovitch followed them until they all reached the location of the dead machine, which was blocking most of the corridor. 

Including the distinct rectangular shape of an alien door, with a thick line defining its edges. The entrance was about ten feet wide and wide enough for the alien tank to sweep through. And, fortunately it hadn't activated it on its fall. As Markovitch looked to the door a strange commotion went through her. "It's here". She said without thinking it. 

**********

"We got company!" Johnson and his squad had just stepped out of the maze of subterranean gardens and into a corridor. They were getting close to the area marked by Markovitch as the Brain's chamber and they had to take the right perpendicular corridor to this one. But as Crossett had first stepped into the passageway he had immediately turned his heavy plasma to the left side and fired a blast. 

At the end of the corridor a couple of Ethereals were plainly visible and holding heavy plasmas. He stopped to fire but Patterson immediately pushed him towards the side corridor that would lead him to the position she had marked.

Before the wall hid his vision of the three soldiers he saw White also standing up and using his laser rifle to supplement the other trooper's fire. A couple of seconds later both Patterson and White disengaged while Crossett stood behind. 

As they moved to join him at the middle section Patterson said with satisfaction. "Got one of the bas…." A sizzling sound made him stop on the middle of the sentence and turn backwards. 

Johnson also saw Crossett freezing into place and holding his heavy plasma by the barrel as if it was a baseball stick. His swing with the weapon hit the blaster bomb as it stopped a couple of feet in front of him to negotiate the corner. 

The detonation made Crossett's body to disintegrate in the air, sending metal and flesh everywhere. It also projected Patterson and White against Johnson and the three troopers felt on the ground. 

When he managed to get out from below the Major's armored figure he saw that the blast had killed him. The air of the power suit was coming in a haze from a hole in Patterson's helmet that revealed dead eyes. Crossett seemed to have sublimated on the air with no trace of him left except for the dark matter that littered the walls of the corridor and the few remaining pieces of armor. Only White seemed to be left alive as he stirred while laying against his stomach on the ground. 

As he used his arms to lift himself up from the floor, he called on the radio. "This is Sigma. We need assistance to the west of the garden structure". 

**********

The three remaining members of Alpha squad had finally reached the clear back of a storage room after passing through a dark garden more akin to a deadly maze. However as they started to check their position movement across the other room's end flared up their adrenaline again. But as they spotted the turtle sight of a dirty power suit they brought their weapons down. "Logan, Epsilon". 

Captain Jerrel replied. "Where's the rest of Alpha?"

"We got ambushed by two Sectopods and some Chryssalids. They didn't make it". The soldier's armor showed a number of plasma hits that had burned the metal alloys. In some cases blue sealant had been poured over them. It had also some dark organic liquid that had been spilled over it. It some cases the blotches were superimposed and it revealed it to be of a violet color. 

"The Sarge's is dead?" Jones quickly asked as he turned to Logan. "Tenga sus almas". Rodriguez said softly afterwards in a prayer. Johnson's called erupted on the general radio channel. Jerrel started to determine their position as Johnson described his location. But Logan figured it out a moment before. "I got an Ethereal close that was standing in a corridor holding a blaster launcher. And it's inside their possible locations". 

Some minutes later they had arrived at the portion of the corridor that had been gutted by the blast and had found Johnson on his knees but holding a heavy plasma at them.  One body was at the ground while White was seated against a wall but holding his weapon. "Sir!" Jerrel approached him. "How are you?"

"Patterson and Crossett are dead". He was tired of all the deaths but he knew he had to continue, no matter the cost. "White's leg still has a large piece of metal inside both the muscle and the gel". The Captain looked to the sides in search of the missing body. "He's gone. I was waiting for you to appear. Get someone to help White. I think I where Captain Markovitch is. She has just broadcast me something strange that might what we're here to look for".

********

The thunderous sound kept increasing in volume, coming from a side corridor as Hopkins ordered Levine and Sharpe to stay put. Something big was running towards the direction of the corridor where they were walking. They stopped after a plasma dart had flowed in front of them, in no doubt aimed at an unlucky soldier to their right. It was big and armed. 

In the chaos of the descent into the subterranean level they had simply rushed away from the lift chamber into an area where they could use their blaster launchers. Joey had died on the attempt as the plasma bolt fired from one Ethereal had hit him on the back as he tried to reach the exit corridor. From there they had tried to link up with First Platoon and the Colonel but either they were completely lost or it simply didn't made sense. 

Looking down at his blaster launcher Hopkins felt frustration. Whatever was coming down from the left it would be too close for him to use the weapon without serious risk for the three of them. Levine had a heavy plasma but Sharpe had also a launcher leaving both of them only with their sidearms. Dropping the launcher into the ground, Hopkins took his laser pistol from the holster on his belt and held it with both hands. Next to him Sharpe did the same and took out a plasma pistol and a grenade. 

As the armored pads finally moved into sight Hopkins wished that they still had Joey and his heavy laser. The legs of a Sectopod appeared first and the red visor of tall ovoid body followed quickly. 

As the barrel of Levine's weapon was set ablaze by the green lightning coming out from it, the white side of the alien's torso became filled a second later with plasma. Sharpe's grenade followed a moment later hitting its leg and detonating with a noiseless flash as Hopkins fired his pistol. 

The discharges made the alien tank falter its forward movement but they didn't kill it. It swiveled its body towards the troopers to bring its twin plasma cannons into line with the humans' direction, firing before they could even move an inch.

Either by chance or deliberate purpose Levine caught both shots, one on his left arm and the other oh his chest. The soldier felt backwards from his kneeled position with his heavy plasma still on his right arm. 

Both Hopkins and Sharpe continued to fire their pistols at the armored monster. Hopkins desperately sought to hit the red visor, where even the weak power of his laser pistol could cause critical damage to the machine's circuitry. Instead both soldiers only managed to score more hits against the Sectopods thick armor but which didn't seem to cause visible damage besides scorching in several different locations. 

The green flash of its cannons was visible again, and this time Sharpe had been its target. One bolt hit the wall on their back but the second caught the trooper's shoulder and send him spinning backwards before he also felt down. 

Finding himself alone against the Sectopod Hopkins felt a strange feeling of déjà vu. But it quickly vanished as he fired his laser pistol again, followed by Levine who somehow had managed to survive and was firing his heavy plasma from the ground with only one hand. 

This time his aim was right. The red visor shattered as the laser beam from his pistol hit it squarely, with fragments raining down into the metal floor. Levine's plasma fire also added to the destruction, managing to hit the machine in the area the body connected to the legs where its armor was thinnest. The Sectopod tumbled to the left side, with the oval body hitting the wall as it felt downwards. 

**********

Johnson's and Alpha reunion with Markovitch's platoon at the doors took occurred some time later. She had deployed two troopers at both ends of the corridor while the rest were guarding the doors. As they passed by and approached her position he asked. "Any movement?"

She didn't reply for a second as she had only wished to go and pick him up when she heard his distress call on the radio. The decision to stay had been hard to take. "The inside is quiet but we've detected some movement inside. And Krenon has seen movement of Sectopods to the south". 

"I think we slipped through their defense line. They must be looking for us". 

"We kept out of the door like you ordered". 

"White has helped me in tracking or path. I believe we are below that large formation for the northeast of the city. The one that looks as a Fort but it's completely ruined?"

"You think they did it on purpose? Putting on a place that they knew we'd overlook?"

"Let's go and find out. How many people you got left?"

"Me and six. Dare is hurt. He can fight but he can't realty move". 

"That makes us twelve who can move. White is in the same condition as Dare. They'll stay behind to cover us". She nodded both in acceptance of the orders to get ready as for reluctance to leave the soldiers beyond. At least King had bought them some more time by blowing the corridors and blocking them with tons of rock and rubble. Would they all be able to survive?

"The hovertank would have been handy to go through these doors if we hadn't lost it! They're about the size". His comment seemed absurd in the situation to her. "Right! We'd only have to figure how to squeeze it through the doors upstairs!" He looked at her shocked for an instant but then let go of a small laugh. 

As he passed her she butted her plasma rifle against his suit's back. "Knock it off!" He called before ordering Jerrel to assemble the soldiers. 

When both doors opened they found them to lead into a long dark corridor fifty yards long. 

It ended in a T for there was a pair of opposite light sources at the end, whose reddish glow was illuminating the end of the corridor. No aliens were visible on sight. 

A pair of X-Com soldiers started to cover the distance, followed by another identical set of soldiers. Jones hadn't understood why he had also volunteered to go first as Logan had stepped in the front. His laser plasma looked puny when compared to the heavy plasma Logan was carrying on both hands. 

They both went off at the same time as a pair of Ethereals appeared in front of them, nearly mimicking the human pair with their weapons on their arms. 

However, the aliens weren't ready for the soldiers for their response was not immediate. In any case they scored better that either Logan or Jones, whose shots didn't looked as if they had touched the aliens for no result was visible. 

The first plasma blast hit Logan while the second barely missed Jones again. Their motion started to stop but both troopers knew that they had to continue. 

Pulling a grenade from his belt Logan started racing down the corridor while Jones looked in shock. "You crazy…."

"See if I survive the second!" Jones looked at a mist trailing off from Logan as the soldier kept approaching the aliens. His suit must be having another leak meaning that probably he had been injured. 

Ahead a second blast caught Logan on his chest, again burning through his armor. But he grinned to himself despite the pain he was feeling and the shots that grazed off him as he was in a zigzag that made it hard for the aliens to target him. 

A few seconds later an explosion rocked the end of the corridor with debris flowing over the entire team 

When Johnson reached the T-junction he found Logan's power suit on the ground together with the figures of two dead Ethereals. The corridor ended at two smaller ones, both with a lift that was capable of bringing up person upwards. As they kept the top under complete surveillance, the soldiers started to get upwards. 

Johnson and Markovitch finally reached the Brain's chamber, after both took the lifts at the same time, their first sight was of Bartfast running in front of them before being gutted by plasma fire coming from the depths of the room. 

The walls of the room were dark and were covered with organic matter that gave a dimmed blue glow. In front of them they saw endless rows of blue chairs, all disposed in a semi-circular fashion and facing something terrible at the end of the room.

Markovitch froze into position as she contemplated the alien Brain, a monstrosity that was resting on top of a large platform almost a hundred years away. It consisted of a mass of sweaty leathery flesh nearly the size of a station wagon. Next to it a variety of alien equipment rested against the wall behind and around the giant alien. Branches from which strange leaves sprouted came from the ground and the walls. The organic mass seemed to be connected to the machinery, making it almost impossible to tell the difference between both.

Her next vision was of the metal ground as Johnson pushed her away from the elevators to the closest line of chairs. Her plasma rifle dropped to the ground with the sudden movement but she was too absorbed by the inhuman figure to notice.

More X-Com troopers poured out of the lifts and moved to join them, some firing back at the Ethereals who were fiercely defending the room. Next to her, Johnson rose from his position and shot an auto burst from his heavy plasma that hit one of the aliens standing five rows away from them. 

The creature let go of a high-tone scream but returned his fire, blowing one of the seats close to Markovitch. Getting back next to her Johnson called: "There's too many of them. We have to suppress them if we want to get closer to the Brain". Stepping back into the open he discharged a round against the back wall, punching through one of the metal structures on the left. 

It only made a pair of Ethereals to change their aim towards him and he as he dove   back they both braced against the ground as the chairs were blown apart. Clearing her head she replied: "That thing is calling for reinforcements Erwin. I can feel it. We need to kill it otherwise we are going to be trapped here".

Activating the general channel, Johnson called. "Hopkins where's your platoon? We need some help up here".

First only static replied to him but it was soon followed by the sound of someone taking deep breaths. "Colonel, we have been cut off from your position by a number of Sectopods that irrupted on the eastern flank. Sorry but we can't reach you". 

"Anyone can reach our position and give us support?" His voice came between a plea and an order. Nobody answered, either they were too busy or they were either dead.

They needed to get closer to be able to hit it on the correct spot before the men that had been left behind to guard the corridor where overwhelmed. Markovitch reached for her backpack and removed a cylindrical object with a metal hand on one end and   jagged edges on the other one. It was a psi-amp. 

"Sheila what are you going to do???" He asked as he noticed it, surprised that she had brought one of the devices with her. They had only been assigned to the members of Psi squad, who were twenty miles away on the Pyramid trying to survive with the rest of Bear team or already dead. They sure could use them down here to try to coordinate the platoons. 

"These Ethereals are killing us". She barely paused to reply to him as she connected the power cord to her suit and the neural transmitter to the sock built into her arm. "We need some advantage". 

Getting up quickly, she pointed the jagged end of the psi-amp towards an area were a group of Ethereals were clustered and projected her mind.

As she pressed her attack, one of the aliens seemed to be caught by surprise by the mind attack and she concentrated on that singular Ethereal. Its mental defenses collapsed and she quickly found herself in control of its body, using the heavy plasma it was carrying to cut down the aliens close to it.

Through the eyes of the alien she saw the X-Com troopers taking advantage of her initiative to move towards her and started to turn to face more of the tall aliens.

When suddenly an unexpected presence stepped inside the Ethereal's mind, overwhelming her control and almost breaking the mental connection. Her forehead started to ache with a thundering pain, almost bringing her down to her knees as she looked forward and realized in horror what had just happened.

The Brain must have detected her attack and had moved to overcome it. A buzz started to be hear on her ears and as she tried to take a step forward she noticed that she had lost nearly all sense of balance, making her walk like if she was in a drunken stupor.

"Sheila, what's wrong?!" Johnson had stopped his advance and was looking back at her. She managed to find the strength to shout and point the psi-amp at another Ethereal who was standing in halfway between the lifts and the Brain. "Keep moving!"

Pressing the trigger on the psi-amp she sent another mental attack that was successful but this time she had problems feeling the alien's body making it difficult for her to fully control it. Closing her eyes she gave it another try.

Around her, the X-Com troopers that had also managed to get to the chamber had crossed one third of the room. But even with Markovitch's help they were taking tremendous casualties. Gamma squad, reduced to Captain Jerrel, Jones and Rodriguez, after the death of Pershing at the claws of a Chryssalid, was trying to move closer to Johnson and Markovitch's position.

Suddenly, a stray plasma blast hit Captain's Jerrel's helmet as he was racing towards Jones and Rodriguez's cover beneath a row of the blue chairs. His head was projected to one side but the damage didn't seem to be that great. Jones watched as he regained his balance and thought that he would keep his path towards them. 

Then a pleading cry startled him: "Ahhhhhhhhhhh!" 

The scream was suddenly heard over the squad's channel. Then it was suddenly cut off as the officer's suit decompressed after the breach suffered by the helmet. The faceplate exploded outwards, spreading the dry bloody remains of Jerrel's face together with broken plastic fragments from his visor.

"Captain!" Jones started to get up and rush towards the fallen body but Rodriguez's grip prevented him.

Meanwhile, as the Brain's overwhelming presence started to be felt away by Markovitch, she desperately tried to do something as her neural cells started to scream and ache from the tremendous pressure applied to them.

The touch of a circular object on the creature's waist gave her a last effort chance. Concentrating instead on the free arm of the Ethereal, she finally felt it perform the motion she was attempting. 

A beeping sound from Johnson's heavy plasma told him that he had just run out of ammunition. Using his right hand he unclipped the empty cartridge from its place at the butt of the cannon and reached for a fresh one on his belt.

In horror he remembered that he had no more banana shaped clips left. Looking around to see if he could retrieve a weapon from a fallen alien, he saw that an Ethereal in the front was readying a grenade to toss at them with its left hand.

The alien raised its roped arm to throw the explosive but as it was halfway through the motion, a blinding flash activated the light suppressors on his helmet, leaving him blind for half a second.

When his visor depolarized, his eyes were still full of dancing circles and geometrical figures. Blinking his eyelids he dropped again to the precarious cover of the seats while he recovered. As he pressed his power suit against the row, he saw Markovitch on the one directly beneath him. "Was that you?"

His question went unnoticed by Markovitch. She was looking directly at the Brain. It was still too far away to use grenades to kill it and the aliens were fiercely taking down anyone that attempted to fire directly at him. On her right, Sergeant Krenon had just taken a number of hits after he had discharged a salvo from his heavy laser at the monstrous thing. Again, they had hit the machinery close to it but they hadn't touched the Brain.

Then a thought came to her mind as the recollection of how Mutons died if their mental link with the Ethereals was cut down. Pointing her psi-amp directly at the Brain, she hoped that it would work.

Before she pressed the trigger, Johnson raised his hand to her as if to stop her and asked: "What are you doing now?"

"The Brain is the whole key, you said it. If we can control it…..". She didn't finish the sentence as she activated the psi-amp, projecting her mental image in the mass of flesh.

Only to hit the mental equivalent of a wall made of stone and recoil back, filling her with unbearable pain. She clumsy fell limp to the floor, as all of the nerves in her body stopped to transmit synapses for a second. The Brain seemed too strong. 

"Sheila!" She ignored his call and raised her arm once more. "Stop!"

Drawing an imaginary line on the mental wall that she had just encountered, she concentrated all of her effort into cracking the immense power of the Brain and cutting an opening.

A flood of new sensations invaded her senses, making her ignore the pain. They were too alien to be understood but for a brief moment she felt every alien and ship that there was present on the Solar System. And she also sensed more, sending her dozens of light years away, to a place filled with other presences Brain like, including one closer but which seemed dormant.

In horror she realized where she was and tried to speak: "There's…."

Now, fully alert to her the alien Brain reacted to her presence, with his mental powers sending repulsion and fear vibrated all across the room. As it hit her she nearly panicked but kept trying to contain its response. Until she found it impossible as a bright light filled her eyes and seemed to cut through her own brain cells, causing both to shut down permanently.

"Sheila! Sheila!" Johnson had just drawn his plasma pistol from his belt when she suddenly felt down to the ground. Turning her, he used his left hand to lift her torso from the ground and looked at her helmet. 

The eyes behind the visor were open but dead and her mouth was expressionless. With a metallic sound, the psi-amp dropped from her hand and hit the ground. Drawing his medikit he placed it upon her and checked her vital signals. Zero pulse, zero respiration, and minimal brain activity with signs of massive trauma. 

"Somebody help me!" Tears came rolling down his face and neck, disappearing on the inside of his suit. 

Markovitch's attack had momentarily distracted the Ethereals in the room. Jones and Rodriguez, together with the few remaining X-Com soldiers, had taken the opportunity and killed a number of them as they stopped fighting. 

Racing from the right side Camay covered space to Johnson with a powered slide over the ground with her flying suit. They were starting to move forward to finally try to kill the Brain. But a cry of pain on the general radio made them look to the center of their line and see as the Colonel rose from the ground. Camay stood nearby shaking her head as she removed the medikit from Markovitch's body. 

Something was buzzing on Johnson's mind but he ignored it, together with the Ethereals that were still in the room firing at the X-Com troopers. Activating the anti-gravity device on his flying suit, he used it to take a giant leap to the front of the chamber, over the seats.

A plasma shot hit him on his right arm as he flew, but he ignored it. The vision of the machinery and organic flesh suddenly enlarged as he crossed the more than one hundred feet still separating him from the Brain in a number of seconds. 

Landing in the empty space between the Brain's platform and the machinery that supported it, he immediately started to raise his plasma pistol the alien. The mass of leathery pink flesh had dark glossy eyes spread all over its surface, in the middle of large blue veins. One of them was facing Johnson directly and he knew that it was watching him.

But as he was about to press the trigger, images started to flash through his eyes.  

He saw himself standing near one of the pyramids overhead that was gleaming with a silverish tone. Instead of its pinkish tone, the Martian sky was now of a friendly blue, crisscrossed with clouds and the landscape was covered with green vegetation. 

It spoke briefly of the grandeur of the civilization that had built Cydonia millions of years ago and how the aliens had been responsible for it. It told Johnson that it was also Earth's destiny to join now their alien fathers.

He saw images of alien scouts landing on Earth and of primitive humans being used in genetic experiments by the aliens. Each time they would appear more developed, as they started to walk more upright and use their hands. Fire appeared and the aliens also showed the humans how to grow cereals and domesticate cattle. Until finally, he saw humans and aliens together in the bridge of an alien ship, working together. 

The voice spoke of the great powers and skills that Earth would benefit from their cooperation from with the aliens. Hunger, strife, disease, war, pollution and overpopulation would all be eradicated and mankind would take a major technological leap as they would benefit from the technology and resources of the alien empire, which stretch itself across the galaxy. 

The more the words from the Brain sounded on his mind, the more Johnson found them suggestive, appealing, as if he had heard the voice before. In a flash he recognized where he had heard it: _Sheila!_

The green bolt cut through the alien flesh like a hot knife on warm butter making the organic mass shutter. A brownish goo started to flow from the feet long wound that the plasma pistol had just cut through the leathery skin, revealing the insides of the alien Brain. The end of the barrel of the weapon glowed green as more shots came out of it and sliced through the creature, revealing electronic components and internal organs on the inside.

The voice finally stopped after releasing a scream of pain that echoed the one he was feeling. But as Johnson was about to fire again at the thing, his back started to burn with pain and he felt it difficult to breath. Time seemed to stop as he tried to turn around to face the alien who had just wounded him. 

A hissing noise told him that the suit had been breached by the plasma and the coldness he was feeling from his back could only meant that the injury was exposed to the Martian atmosphere. He realized that he would die unless he could stop the oxygen leak and the bleeding. Reaching for his belt he brought out one of the canisters of the sealing gel to close the hole on his suit. 

But he never had a chance to use it. A second shot twisted his guts as he completed the motion and saw an Ethereal ten feet away from him, still holding its heavy plasma. The coldness started to expand to his chest and he stopped feeling his legs. The canister felt from his hands and into the floor, breaking as it hit the metal surface and the contents quickly turned into solid across the surface. 

Falling to his left, he used his arms to soften the landing. He expected the caped figure to fire the weapon again, but instead it raced across him as both his hands touched the ground with his body following afterwards.

Looking at the alien direction while he was on the ground, he saw it over a control panel close to the dead Brain. The hood of the cape was down, allowing him to see the bald gray back of the alien's head. The creature was apparently doing something and before Johnson could stop it, a red light started to blink on the instrument board.

The Ethereal turned to Johnson with his mouth open, revealing his fangs. It looked at him briefly before a plasma shot took it on the chest making it land on the board. The machinery threw electrical sparks from the impact but it kept emanating the red light. 

"Colonel!" Jones and Rodriguez moved some seconds afterwards near Johnson and started to help him. "Camay get here on the double!" 

As his legs faltered both of them gently set him against the metal floor. White's voice was heard on the radio. "Colonel, Clark is still alive and airborne over us. He says that there are massive lights starting to glow from the Face a couple of seconds ago! And the hyperwave detector is going nuts!"

Gathering the remains of his strength, he replied: "Tell him to destroy it!" He coughed afterwards and felt a salty metallic taste on his mouth. Not good, he told himself. 

Hearing White's affirmative, he turned to Jones and Rodriguez who were trying to help Camay contain his wounds. His voice came out ragged over the radio. "The….., the Captain?"

Rodriguez looked back at him: "Lie down sir. You are badly injured". The coldness had spread all over his body and he tried to grip the other trooper's shoulder but failed. "I'm… dying Rodriguez". He looked at the fallen figure of Markovitch where a trooper had kneeled next to her. "How is she?"

Rodriguez closed his eyes for a moment before replying. "She's gone sir". _No, we are going to be together again in a few moments. And with those last words Johnson died, leaving the three soldiers hopeless as they tried to do everything to revive him. _

The Pyramid, Cydonia, Mars

The death of the alien Brain had thrown the alien forces besieging Bear team inside the crater next to the massive pyramid into disarray. The aliens had stopped attacking and it seemed that there was wide panic inside their lines since groups of aliens would just run blindly into any direction. Illyuschenko was also assuming that the same was happing on the inside of the Pyramid although they couldn't tell now.

As soon as Tiger had reported that the Brain was instead at the City he had ordered the demolition of ground opening to the base by blaster launchers. That way they didn't had to worry about the base defenders while trying to survive the aliens that had been deployed by the UFOs. 

Overhead, the air battle between the remaining Avengers and the UFOs had also been won by the human side, as the alien crafts stopped to perform maneuvers and turned into sitting ducks or failed to correct their trajectories, making them to plunge like a rock to the ground. 

Initially, Illyuschenko had been surprised by the break up of the alien ranks but the call from Tiger had come informing them that the Brain had been killed. Major Patterson had also reported that the aliens had apparently managed to make a last transmission from the Face before the transmitter was destroyed by an aerial attack made performed by the remaining Avenger of Tiger team. 

The less than fifty men and women who had survived the attack on the Pyramid had let go of a tremendous cheer when the announcement came of over the general channel. Illyuschenko had quickly put a stop to it and had everyone focus on their jobs, since there was still a vast group of aliens nearby their position. 

Three days afterwards the fighting was all over on Mars. The remaining UFOs had either been shot out of the skies or crashed into the surface and the only aliens alive were the few ones who had run away from Cydonia. But they had no place to go to, since the base had been disabled by the X-Com soldiers who had removed all of the material that could be brought back to Earth and destroyed the rest.

Without any food or means to survive the aliens would just eventually die on the harsh Martian environment. 

The news from Mother One confirmed that the death of the Brain had thrown the alien forces into disarray like it had been predicted. However, it also meant that the survivors of the Cydonia operation had to head back home and help the X-Com forces left beyond on Earth in defeating the remaining aliens. 

March 10th, 2002

Earth

For the millions of human beings that could see the Moon, which was coming close to full, either on night or daylight, the news from the death of the alien Brain were noticeable about a day later. 

The ones that by chance were looking directly at the Moon when the alien Mothership hit the surface of the asteroid witnessed a major eruption of light at the its surface. X-Com had been tracking the alien craft since it had just cleared into the near side of the satellite following the Moon's curvature. The soldiers left back on Earth had guessed the worse until they saw the craft failing to correct its path and being caught by the Moon's gravity. When it finally hit the Moon's surface the kinetic energy and the catastrophic release of the fuel contained on its massive Elerium engines was more than sufficient to obliterate the craft. 

Although only few people on Earth could actually guess what had happened, the sight of the intense flare over a major section of its southern hemisphere that lasted for seconds was nothing something to be dismissed. 

In a matter of hours the major and national networks had picked up the story on special news emissions. They were more than hunger to exploit more the matter of "alien activity" since almost all governments still avoided giving any specific information about what was going on. The incident quickly became tagged as "The Alien Disturbance on the Moon". 

On the next weeks speculation went rampant as government officials tried to hide the fact that they also didn't had any idea of what had just happened, in order to try to prevent widespread panic. As they faced a full assault of enquiries their response would be: "The matter is still being considered" and abstain from any additional comments. 

Which lead to only two other groups capable of trying to forward an explanation: the scientists and the public's opinion. And neither both groups managed to get a generally accepted theory. Discussion about if it was an asteroid or some sort of artificially provoked explosion moved to dominate all discussions, either on the television or between people. If it was an asteroid and if it had hit Earth it would probably have caused a cataclysm like the one that provoked the extinction of the dinosaurs. If it was artificial…well, then it was either a nuclear bomb set off against them or it was their way of expressing their power. 

Only Mother One, X-Com's main base on Earth, knew the real truth, a little afterwards the explosion. But there were still alien forces on the planet that needed to be destroyed before they could cause more damage and unnecessary deaths to civilians. 

These operations went go along well right from its start leading into the defeat of the remaining aliens on Earth. The alien fleet on the far side of the Moon had turned into chaos as several of the craft lost their positions on the satellite's orbit. The telescopes were tracking a number of them drifting away from Earth, and it seemed that there was nothing alive inside to guide them. Other UFOs had plunged into the Moon's surface including the mammoth ship, whose explosion from the impact had made a new crater on the satellite dozens of miles wide.

By the end of the month it had been decided by X-Com's High Command to inform the stunned national representatives of the Council of Funding Nations at the next monthly meeting for the organization's budget about the defeat inflicted to the aliens by X-Com on both Mars and Earth.

Six months later the Secretary General called for an extraordinary assembly of the United Nations and delivered a stunning speech that was broadcast live broadcast. He was accompanied by an X-Com officer in a dark gray dress uniform with thick dark hair and a youth that still could be seen behind the several scars on his face.  On his collar he carried the golden skull on an X pin that identified him as the force's commander.  Secretary General Bomaka first announced the existence of X-Com and explained briefly the duties and motives for which it had been created more than three years ago.  

He then introduced the man next to him as Commander Boronin, the officer in charge of X-Com. Bomaka then gave the podium to Boronin who explained in brief phrases the Cydonia mission and how they had defeated the aliens on Earth and the Moon by killing the Brain on Mars. The Alien War was over.

André Galvão, 2002 


	34. Epilogue

X-Com – The Unknown Menace

Epilogue

October 12th, 1952

Area 51, Nevada, US

Looking at the B-29 bomber who was at the process of firing up its number four engine, a man wearing the uniform of an Air Force officer wondered at the amount of work that was still left to do. In the five years since the recovery of the first flying saucer he couldn't remember a day that he hadn't been working on the whole problem. By now he had been promoted from Major to a Colonel in the newly formed United States Air Force. 

But no matter how much rank he climbed it only seemed that the challenges only increased. And the stakes had also risen. In the past months Washington had been the stage of an aerial display of UFOs and the media had picked up the story, giving too much work in debunking the whole matter. 

The sound of the engine was nearly deafening him, so he moved back inside the newly built hangar were he was standing by the doors. At the same time the aluminum painted plane started to move in the taxiway towards the reinforced section of the dry lake that had been converted into a runway. That B-29 had brought the retrieved wreckage from Wright-Patterson AFB to the facility. It had been decided to keep it on a hidden military installation that the public had no knowledge of. 

The German scientist came to meet him, his hands on his coats' pockets and with a thin smile on his lips. 

"How do you find the facilities Doctor?" The officer asked more as a way to initiate the conversation since the man had personally defined what would be necessary to study the extraterrestrial craft. 

"Excellent Colonel. I must say that I'm impressed by the few time it took for the construction of this base". 

"Well, don't thank me only, send also your compliments to the US government". The scientist's attitude sometimes irritated the Colonel but there was nothing he could do about it. Millions of dollars were being poured every day into this special project and more were being spent on the other measures that were being taken by the White House. But the man's breakthroughs in reverse engineering the technology retrieved more than paid it off. 

"The Brits are going to send one of their intelligence guys to take a look at the 'wagon' in a couple of weeks. You think you can have it reassembled by them?"

"It shouldn't be a problem at all Colonel. Do you wish also to show him the 'entities'"? The mention to the extraterrestrial bodies recovered from the crash site made the Colonel frown. Of all things they were presented the most problem: who were they and what did they wanted from Earth?

The live alien that had survived the crash hadn't been able to tell them very much or wasn't willing to. But unfortunately the thing had died weeks after it had been retrieved and the biologists were still trying to determine the cause of its death. "Yeah, get them out of the fridges when he arrives. We've been instructed to tell them the whole story". 

"The English have been good allies in the war against my country, Colonel. I'm confident that they will fully understand the implications of this matter". The officer nodded, although he had heard the comment before from the scientist. They had engaged on long discussions about what should be made to deal with the extraterrestrials. 

"They have stuck with us in the creation of NATO against the Russians. And everyone will surely follow our lead in case this situation leads into the unthinkable". 

"Yes. Still we must be prepared for any eventuality". The Colonel wished that the whole situation in Korea wasn't so bad so that they could inform Stalin of what was going on. For him this was something that affected all of mankind and as such. Probably even the KGB had by now an idea that something else was behind the UFOs. But then again the possibility of war with Russia gave everyone an excuse to claim that an enemy was waiting to strike at them, making it easier to conceal the extraterrestrials' existence. 

The scientist smiled in a sinister way. "We will Colonel. We will. In fact I have some ideas about what we might exactly do towards it".

March 9th, 2002

Arecibo, Puerto Rico, Earth

"Holy shit!" 

It was late in the evening and scientists in charge of SETI's research effort using the late antenna at Arecibo had been busier lately in packing up their material before leaving back to the United States than in monitoring possible alien signals from outer space. The whole project was being discarded, not because some bureaucrat had deemed it a useless waste of money, but because the scientific community was more inclined now into believing that extraterrestrial life did exist and was right here on Earth.

Unknown to the majority of the population and unrecognized by the world's countries, for three long years a secret war against an alien invasion had been fought in the Earth's atmosphere and on the ground. After the first encounters with the aggressors from outer space, the burden of the fight to defend mankind had been placed upon Extraterrestrial Command. More known as X-Com it was a multinational force tasked with the mission of investigating the alien threat and defeat them, allowing humankind to survive.

The fight had been brutal: the aliens were planning to take over Earth and to colonize it and in the pursuit of their intentions entire cities had been razed and thousands of people abducted for use in genetic experiments or simply as food. Hundreds of aircraft and thousands of human soldiers had been lost in the confrontations between Earth's forces and the aliens. Only the research efforts made by X-Com's scientists had leveled the technological abyss between the weapons used by its soldiers and the alien's deadly ones.

And the same scientific discoveries had allowed Earth's victory: X-Com had sent a mission sent to destroy the Brain in distant Mars, who controlled all the alien forces, using spacecraft built based on the UFOs. The troopers had successfully forced their way into the main Martian base and had just killed the Brain, an organic being that possessed huge mental powers and used them to coordinate the alien's actions.

But the two scientists back at Arecibo didn't know anything about what was going on distant Mars. The few reports of UFOs and military confrontations that reached the media had convinced the major research institutions to look for extraterrestrials not elsewhere, but here on Earth. Some of the major universities and corporations had already gotten into possession of claimed alien artifacts, put upon the black market by unknown sellers. 

That had been the dead blow on SETI: the whole project was being axed and the two engineers present were only a clean-up crew. And more frustrating was the fact that it never had been able to pick up a signal from the aliens even though they existed. 

Hearing the exclamation, the other scientist took his eyes off the magazine he was reading but he kept his feet on top of the desk, preferring to ignore the computer monitor in front of him. "What? Aren't you tired of looking at that?"

"Lucas, get over here! I think we have picked up something!" The first scientist was clearly excited as he suddenly got out of his position and started to click up switches, performing system checks. Lucas reluctantly threw the magazine to a wastebasket on his side. "Cool down, Pat, you must have picked some military recon bird".

"Yeah? Then listen to this!" He flicked a switch and the speakers mounted on the top of an electronic panel went live. The vibrations of a grave sound filled the room stopping Lucas, as he was about to get up. "What is that?!"

"I don't know, but it's being transmitted over the entire radio spectrum, not confined to a single frequency. I think it's some sort of outburst that is bleeding so much energy that it actually is affecting the radio frequencies.

"A supernova just went active?" The first scientist asked as both of them started performing equipment checks and going through their checklist of actions to perform in case an unidentified signal was detected. "I've just confirmed, the signal is not coming from any Earth source. It's not a reflection!"

"And it must be artificial: I'm picking modulation and a pattern although with heavy distortion. I think we just hit gold Lucas!" The second scientist suddenly frowned as he looked upon the monitor. 

"Wait a minute! I've just picked its source: this signal is coming from Mars!" Pat looked at him is dismayed. "What?" Then both of them were left in a stupor as the sound suddenly ended, leaving only the static of the stars. 

Unknown to both men, the X-Com troopers who were raiding the alien base on Mars had just killed one of the last aliens who was standing over a console, apparently activating some source of beacon aimed back to Earth. 

They had been successful: the death of the Brain had brought the alien's forces on Earth into a chaos, the same way as a beehive dies as soon as the queen is killed. In the next months the news of the alien's existence and X-Com's victory were announced to a world that already knew part of the story. 

X-Com's scientists tried to dechypher the message contained on the tachyon beacon but it proved impossible to make any sense of the alien signals. Finally, they decided that it was a call for reinforcements from Earth to defend Cydonia. Since by that time the remaining force on the planet had been defeated, the whole transmission lost its value and was quickly archived. 

March 17th, 2002

Chryse Planitia, Mars

Illyuschenko would always remember the flight line of the Avengers who had survived the fighting. Most of them showed signs of damage, with weapons pods missing or patched holes in their fuselage. _And less than half of the men and women are coming back. _

As he kept walking in a more smooth terrain, his gaze turned instead to the burial graves that had been dug up on the Martian ground for the bodies of the X-Com soldiers. They didn't have space left on the Avengers to bring them along to Earth, so they had buried them on the soil where they had died. 

_So many died but it wasn't in vain. The voice was still tormenting him but now he could finally deal with it, giving him a new resolve. __I've done my mission as a soldier. Now I need to do my final one._

Colonel Boronin had approached him from his left on that day. "General, the loading is complete. We are ready to go home". He waited for Illyuschenko's command but the Commander simply stood looking at the red Martian plain. "General?" 

_The easy way out, some might say. "Go Colonel. I'm staying. You have command of the force now"._

"Sir??!" Confusion came to Boronin's voice. "What do you mean?"

Starting to walk away from him, Illyuschenko replied. "When you go back tell the Secretary General and whom else wants to listen that they make sure that this don't repeat itself".

"You can't do that sir. Come back with us". Boronin's voice turned into a plea. "You've taken us through this whole thing. You can't just quit now". 

Inside his helmet Illyuschenko knew that the other man couldn't see the smile that came up his lips. "Boronin. I've fought for the Soviet Union. I've fought for Earth. My life and war have always walked together. But now I'm choosing my own path: no more fighting. I've had enough for a lifetime".

"The men won't let you go, sir. Nobody will".

"That's why I'm asking you one last favor. Take off as soon as you can and pretend that I'm onboard one of the craft. When you're on your way tell them about my decision". 

"Are you sure of this sir?" And Illyuschenko felt a great resolve inside him. He started walking away, following it. After a couple of steps, he stopped and turned to Boronin, who was now away from him. "Goodbye Colonel. It was a pleasure having you all under my orders. When you're back to Earth, tell the men and women back there on the Avengers that. Because of them Earth survived". He started to walk again, in the direction of a ridge.

Later, Boronin couldn't tell for long he stood there looking at the vanishing figure as it got smaller and smaller until it completely disappeared. He couldn't say anything so he gave one last look at the footprints on the red Martian soil before throwing a salute and heading back towards the Avengers. 

But of that Illyuschenko knew nothing now. He had been walking for five days on his flying suit. He had brought his heavy plasma in case he ran into any alien that might have survived and one of inflatable tents on his back. He had decided to die as far as could from Cydonia and had also to avoid the aerial scans made by the Avengers for one Martian day, in a fruitless last-minute attempt to find him before they left the planet's orbit bound to Earth. 

He had been waiting exactly that. 

When he saw the lights of the Avengers taking off from Mars he had searched for a hole where he could hide and had found a crevasse on a nearby dry river bed that where he could fit together with his equipment.  Once he was inside he had disconnected all power to his suit besides the minimum to maintain the oxygen recycling. He made it so that they couldn't detect him by tachyon emission from the small Elerium engine on his suit. The glacial coldness of the Mars landscape started to be felt inside the suit but he ignored the cold. He had lived in worse conditions that this on Afghanistan. 

After he had gotten himself out of the hole he continued to walk. It wouldn't matter to Illyuschenko anyway where he died. 

Four days after he knew that the Elerium fuel was almost exhausted. Hours ago he had taken his last reading of how for much time his suit would work out and provide him with energy to move itself and with oxygen to live. He had abandoned all his gear at the base of a rockier terrain where several boulders and creaks could be seen and had started to climb into the irregular terrain. 

As he entered it more and more a mist started to form by his legs and he actually noticed that the atmospheric temperature had gone up although it was still below the water icing level. He ignored it after a brief seconds. 

By his calculations he didn't knew how much time he had still left. As he walked from boulder to boulder and crossed cracks on the ground he tried to cover as much terrain as he could. 

The mist had gotten itself thicker, with large clouds floating a few feet over Illyuschenko's head and obscuring the rocks. The dark shapes made him stop a couple of times as it looked to him that he had seen alien or human figures hidden in the mist. 

A part of his brain tried to warn they couldn't be real but he was already lost in remembrances of dead faces spread all over his past, from Afghanistan to his wife and X-Com. He knew he would die of hypoxia in a dead suit that didn't allow him to move much because of its weight. He wondered how painful it would be. 

Making him miss the ice that now was filling the ground as he kept running. As he stepped with his left foot near a giant crack on the terrain, the metal of his armor made it slip. He felt towards the crevasse that only revealed darkness. One of his arms outstretched and grabbed a piece of rock but it was loose that he felt into the hole. 

The fall lasted for several seconds through the crevasse. If Illyuschenko hadn't been wearing the flying suit he would have been killed. As it was he felt his body and head hitting the walls several times before he finally landed in pain. 

As he stood on the floor of the place where he had felt the pain told him that he must had broken several ribs by the fall and also his right ankle and left hand. However as he tried to move his uninjured limbs he found that that he still had power left. In spite of the pain he tried to straighten himself up. As his right hand started to get a position on the ground to support the whole body, he found that the ground here was extremely irregular. Moving his head towards it he activated the lights mounted on the helmet's sides. 

A golden light that was coming from every direction suddenly replaced the darkness. Illyuschenko had apparently fallen into an underground chamber filled with gold colored crystals on every wall. 

There was no exit present that trying to climb back up but he wasn't thinking about it. Instead, he just sat down and stood watching the show before his eyes of the light of his suit being reflected millions of time and embedding with in a photon web. 

_There's beauty even here on the planet that represented the god of war. Maybe there was also some beauty in my life after all._

That thought lasted with him as the lights went dead after all of the fuel had been used and there was no more Elerium left on his suit to power it.

March 9th, 2012

Arlington National Cemetery, Virginia, United States

On VC Day, the anniversary of the X-Com attack at the alien base on Cydonia, Captain Hunt usually made an excuse to take off the afternoon. However this year he simply drove from his house near Quantico Naval Base and rode to Arlington to see the graves of the X-Com soldiers buried there, and in particular Johnson and Markovitch's. 

But there were so many others. None of the initial US team was alive anymore. But sometimes he would encounter one person who had also served under Johnson at Area 51. 

However most of the US troops that had participated in the attack had died there or had retired. The few still in the military were now serving in separate military outfits scattered around the country and Hunt was the only one left at the Pentagon. 

When he first arrived at Washington he had been looked upon with respect. Now it seemed that most of the personnel tended to ignore his service in the war and only show a slight interest if the matter was brought up.

He had been the commander of the North American area of operations until four years ago, when the remaining facilities had been dismantled and the personnel shipped off to positions more necessary. It had been for more than nine years since anyone had seen an alien on Earth or elsewhere and in the midst of the world's greatest financial crisis there were more pressing needs than to fund a useless and costly military operation. 

X-Com was just not needed anymore, after all the blood it had given to Earth, Hunt still complained and rumbled. And he wasn't needed also. 

As he walked around the corridors of crosses he found out that two men were standing already by the Colonel and the Captain's graves, with their backs to him. He joined them and kept a distance, while trying to see who they might be. The man closest to him was the tallest and looked to be on his thirties and wealthy as well. 

He suddenly recognized some features that were mistakenly familiar, like the blonde hair and the shape of the nose. But only when the other man moved around to greet him was that he knew whose ghost he was looking at.

"Good afternoon, Captain Hunt, I presume that you recognize me?" 

Hunt shook his eyes in disbelief. "Williams? Is that you? You were reported dead ten years ago!" 

The other man's voice dropped considerately. "Captain, I go by a different name now by many necessary reasons. However, may I present you my brother, Frederick Williams". Hunt now understood the similarities between both men. "He's the Mr. Williams now. You might have heard of him". The former CIA and X-Com analyst added.

The officer stood for a loss for a couple of seconds, but came about to what the man in front of him was getting at. "You mean 'the' Mr. Williams, the computer billionaire which made a fortune with computer built using alien technology?" He nodded. "Well, that explains some things, err, what should I call you now?"

"Smith. Mr. Smith, please Captain". 

"Mr. Smith, right. So, ten years afterwards you decided to come out from whatever place you've been hiding since the end of the war". He looked at both graves. "Just paying your respects to Captain Johnson and Captain Markovitch?"

The other man made a weak smile. "Yes, and also to make sure that their blood wasn't spilt on Mars in vain. For a number of different reasons, if I stayed out in the open I would have been unable to act…or even be killed".

Hunt raised an eye. "You might as well have stayed dead. If you don't know, X-Com was nearly dismantled. The only things still operating are the underwater bases but even those do nothing more than try to retrieve UFOs that crashed on the water. But even that is likely to change, since the costs of running the operation are becoming more expansive than the value of the tiny amounts of Elerium retrieved". 

One of the consequences of the alien's defeat had been the almost complete depletion of the Earth's Elerium stocks, since the element wasn't natural to the Solar System. Hunt knew this well. 

Three years ago he had stepped again in the surface of Mars, leading the last operational Avenger into a mission to examine the remains of the alien base and look if there were any aliens or Elerium left on the planet. Then he had made a visit to the chamber that had housed the Brain and seen its dead carcass, dry from being exposed to the Martian atmosphere. He wished that he had been there but his platoon had been hold up against the aliens preventing them from reaching the room. When the fighting at the City had subsisted he had discovered that he was the senior officer left on Tiger team. 

The entire search for Elerium on had been fruitless and there wasn't even enough of it now to power plasma weapons. With no power source available and the economy in shambles, all research into interstellar travel had been abandoned. The only Elerium available on the planet seemed to be the alien engines that had survived the crash into Earth's oceans.

"You are right Captain, but some things won't change".

"Yeah? Do you know how many people and planes we lost to mechanical problems after the war before I quit? Gosh, after I'm done here I'm going to make a stop at the marker for the Cydonia veterans that died when their Skyranger crashed into the North Atlantic three years ago. Not a single body or trace of the craft was ever recovered. And do you know what caused this and other accidents?"

"Lack of necessary funding!" He spat out.  "Anyone cared? No!" His words came out in disgust. 

"Or what about the war crimes tribunals everyone was talking about after the war, to punish those who collaborated with the aliens? Did anyone cared when the politicians worked out a diplomatically acceptable solution for that? Hell, for me they should even have put Vaughn on stand, but instead he just quits and nothing else is done".

"I share your thoughts about Vaughn. He was one of the worst presidents this nation ever had and I'd wished that there would be a way to mend things up". 

"Mend things up!" Hunt felt outrage. "Like the talk about the planned memorial for all the American servicemen who died on the war. All of this time afterwards we are still discussing if the names of the X-Com troopers should be placed next to the regular servicemen, since some consider that we defected the country when we decided to stick to X-Com instead of going with Vaughn's plans. Bah! At least their names are written on the General's Crater!" 

The General's Crater was the unofficial name for the Moon's new surface feature that had been caused by the impact of the alien Mothership on the satellite. The Moon's craters were usually named after famous astronomers but on this case the International Astronomical Union had accepted that it would be known as Illyuschenko's crater. The naming had even included a ceremony where a memorial stone was placed on precisely on the center of the crater by the last Avenger craft on its last flight. It contained the names of every X-Com man and woman that had died on the war. 

Williams put a hand on Hunt's shoulder. "You are right Captain, but right now these are minor battles compared to the task ahead of us to ensure that this will never repeat itself and mankind will endure". 

Hunt looked at the face. "What do you mean? X-Com closed down bankrupt at the beginning of the year. It's dead, expect for material for blockbuster movies and for companies to market their products. The X-Lady is gone and no one cares for it. I'm not even a part of it anymore. How can I possibly help?"

"I can see that you are a man that shares our worries and I've seen you file, Captain. You were a Navy Seal before joining X-Com. And, it is a known fact that you were publicly instated as the Seal's Commander Officer afterwards when you returned for some years to the regular military. You left for, quote, personal reasons, unquote. However it was also the result of your personal frustrations towards how X-Com and its personnel were treated. Since you resigned your commission you had had a couple of positions at security companies but you have also left them after sometime". 

The statement shocked Hunt for its ability to "Mr. Smith, how do you known all of that? Are you keeping a watch over me?"

Williams's brother turned to him and said. "My brother is being quite melodramatic here. Mr. Hunt. Let's just say that I prefer to get the most possibly qualified man for the job. And, for a strange fate or luck, you're just what we need. Tell me, have you ever considered joining the private sector? More precisely, in the aquatic business?"

********** 

_The End_

André Galvão, 2002 


	35. Organization

EXTRATERRESTRIAL COMMAND (X-COM)

ORGANIZATION

(EARLY 2002 – BEFORE CYDONIA OPERATION)

UNITED NATIONS EXTRATERRESTRIAL COMMAND

Civilian leadership is placed upon the UN's Secretary-General. Budgetary decisions determined monthly by the Council of Funding Nations. Military command exerted by General Dmitri S. Illyuschenko. 

MILITARY OPERATIONS AND SUPPORT

CO: Commander Illyuschenko

Air Operations Cdr: Col. Pasqua

Ground Operations Cdr.: Col. Voss

Support and Manufacturing Cdr: Col. Oshika

SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT BUREAU

CO: Dr. Chevereux

INTELLIGENCE BUREAU

CO: Colonel Robinson

Note: This is the basic administrative division of all X-Com personnel and units.  However, during war operations the personnel is assigned to a 'parent' organization for deployment, namely the area commands. Amongst those, the chain of command starts in the regional commander, who has full control over the military assets. In the case of the scientific and intelligence assets, each Bureau's commanders are free to decide the level of autonomy and sharing of information that will be shared with him.  

HIGH COMMAND 

Advises the Supreme Commander in Strategic Issues. It is composed of all of the Seven Area Commanders plus the Chiefs of the Scientific and Intelligence Bureaus. Includes also the general Air Operations and the Ground Operations Commanders. 

NORTH AMERICAN COMMAND

CO: Colonel Erwin Johnson

XO: Colonel Jackson

WESTERNNA SUBCOMMAND (Area 51, Nevada, US)

CO: Colonel Johnson

XO: Major Prescott

a) 1st North American Combat Group "Wolverines"

CO: Colonel Erwin Johnson

XO: Major Patterson

i) 1st Platoon (Alpha, Gamma and Delta squads)

Platoon Commander: Capt. Jerrel

Assistant Plt. Cdr.: Lt. Hanley

Platoon Sargeant:    Sgt. Baker

- Alpha               Sgt. Baker, Kowalsky, Jill, Macready

- Gamma            Cpt. Jerrel, Pershing, Rodríguez, Jones

- Delta                Lt. Hanley, Cpl. Kyle, Bradley, Bearpaw

ii) 2nd Platoon (Zeta, Kappa and Phi squads) 

PC: Capt. Sheila Markovitch

APC: Lt. Jim Digriz

PS: Sgt: Krenon

- Zeta                 Capt. Markovitch, Dare, Prune, Yu

- Kappa              Lt. Jim Digriz, Cpl Sharkey, Bartfast, Turner

- Phi                   Sgt. Krenon, Bragg, Camay, Franks

iii) 3rd Platoon (Sigma, Omega and Psi squads)

PC: Colonel Erwin Johnson

APC: Major Mike Patterson

- Sigma               Col. Johnson, Maj. Patterson, WO White, WO Crossett

- Omega             Cpl. King, Duschamps, Woodley, Rumpole

iv) 4th Platoon (Epsilon, Lambda and Tau squads)

PC: Capt. Hawn

APC: Lt. Paulson

PS: Sgt. Grisham

- Epsilon             Sgt. Grisham, Corp. Logan, Deckard, Manning

- Lambda            Cpt. Hawn, Morales, Olson, Craven

- Tau                  Lt. Paulson, Cpl. Greaves, Werrett, Mosby

v) 5th Platoon (Upsilon, Mu and Nu squads)

PC: Capt. Hunt

APC: Lt. Guntern

PS: Sgt. Garcia

vi) Fire Support Platoon (Beta, Eta and Omicron squads)

PC: Lt. Cruz

PS/APC: Sgt. Elias Hopkins

- Beta                 Sarg. Hopkins, Sharpe, Joey, Levine

- Omicron           Lieutenant Cruz, Slater, Overby, McGarry

b) 1st North American Combined Air Group (Rho)

Fighter and Transport Squadrons (LtC. Harris, Cpt. Clark, Lt. Seymour)

c) Security Group (2 Companies) (Theta)

d) Combat Support Group (Chi)

e) Base Operations Group (Xi)

f) Scientific (Pi)    (Dr. Mantell, Dr. Young)

g) Intelligence (Iota) (Williams, Pharris, Davis, Landon)

EASTERN NA SUBCOMMAND (Pollock ANGB, West Virginia) - INACTIVE

a)   2nd North American Combat Group "The Wild Hunters"

b)   2nd North American Combined Air Group

FAR EAST COMMAND (Complex YY-18, Hokkaido, Japan)

CO: Colonel Yamashita 

            FE SUBCOMMAND

INDIAN SUBCOMMAND

            CHINESE SUBCOMMAND (INACTIVE)

AFRICAN COMMAND (Depot S-4, Kenya)

CO: Colonel Waartens

RUSSIAN COMMAND (Stalingrad Base, Caucasus, Central Asia)

CO: Colonel Boronin

EUROPEAN COMMAND (Mother One, Black Forest, Germany)

CO: Col. MacTaggert

(Other personnel assigned: Dr. Eva Johannes, Dr. Pierre Lejeune)

AUSTRALIAN COMMAND (Darwin RAAF Airbase, Australia)

SOUTH AMERICAN COMMAND (São Paulo Air Base, Brazil)


	36. Addendum

X-Com: The Unknown Menace

Addendum

April 1st, 2001

Near the California-Nevada border, US

"Colonel, we've just dropped off the clouds and are only a few miles away from the target but there's something wrong sir". Clark's voice made Johnson turn away from facing Patterson and look towards the front end of the Skyranger. "What is it Clark?"

"Well, you won't believe this sir but the land below us just turned flat and purple". _What? _They were heading towards the Sierra Nevada mountain range in California where an UFO had just landed. Johnson decided that Clark was either playing some sort of prank or had completely flipped out of his mind. He then felt Patterson's hand on his shoulder twisting him on his left as the officer spun him around. "Colonel! Look!" 

Johnson was already seeing it through the window of the Skyranger. The entire landscape had turned into a flat dark purple although the sky was still light blue. But before he could even mutter any response the plane dropped all of a sudden, sending most of the armored troopers crashing into the metal wall that separated the cargo section from the cockpit. Johnson and Patterson found themselves completely pinned down by the mass of power armor above him. And one of the metal feet had hit the Major's head, tearing a bloody gash on the side of his head. "Colonel, we lost all engine power sir! I'm trying to glide her down!"

As the vibrations inside the Skyranger lowered a bit the troopers started to untangle themselves. But as Johnson grasped for air afterwards, he felt his lungs burning. All around him soldiers started coughing and Sergeant Baker from first platoon ordered quickly through a gasping voice: "There's something wrong with the air! Get your helmets locked-down!"

Needing no further confirmation Johnson locked down the faceplate into position. The suit's life-support system automatically kicked in, sending the helmet with a clean mix of nitrogen and oxygen. But as he started scanning for the rest of the platoon he saw something on the edge of the faceplate that gave him concerns. In the middle of the confusion of the drop something had hit the windowed section while it rested above the helmet. It had been designed to be as tough as possible since it was the most vulnerable place on his entire armor. But it had collided with something and now couldn't properly seal. He now still had a considerable amount of oxygen but the breach would leak it out progressively, otherwise he could have lived on the suit for days. 

The Skyranger jerked to the left making him worry more in getting secure in the middle of the upcoming forced landing. Grabbing one of the overhead metal rails that stood over the benches he waited for the crash. 

The right landing wheel plane hit the ground at more than one hundred miles per hour on their conventional landing. The pressure exerted on the rear undercarriage proved too much and the leg snapped. A sudden shake was sent by the entire plane as the fuselage on that area hit the ground. The reaction movement sent the plane rolling over the sandy ground with the wings and remaining undercarriage being snapped away from the Skyranger. 

When the plane finally stopped at an upright position, all of the troopers inside the cargo area started to get up from the ground or to unlock their safety belts. When Johnson finally got himself together he turned to Patterson and ordered. "Tell Jerrel to safe the landing area. I'm checking on Clark".

Both men moved away and he opened the door to the cockpit area. But Clark and the Seymour were still seated but their motionless heads were facing to the side of their chairs. Their skin had turned to blue, meaning that both pilots had choked to death while trying to bring down the craft safely. 

Going back to the cargo area he saw that the there was only one squad remaining inside the plane. Grabbing a heavy plasma that was secured next to his seat he moved outside down the lowered ramp of the Skyranger. 

As he stepped into the purple terrain he saw that it was sand, with occasional splotches of white and yellow vegetation that seemed alien to him. His soldiers had deployed in a circle around the plane to protect it from any possible hostiles in the area. There was what seemed to be some artificial construction to the left of the Skyranger, which displayed stone columns and nearly intact buildings all carved in vivid green marble. They definitely had to be somehow in an alien planet, Johnson concluded as he air leaking from his suit was actually forming bubbles that floated upwards. Apparently whatever gases were present in the atmosphere they were heavier than oxygen and nitrogen. 

Crouched down behind one stone column, Rodriguez was also asking Jones that same question. The private replied. "Well, at least there are no aliens". But as he spoke, a large muscular figure appeared on the terrace of the temple and fired a plasma round at the Skyranger. Both soldiers looked at one another before they warned the rest of the platoon. "Dang! The buff green ones are out there!"

It was pissing me off not being able to write about them again :) 

This story was written after using Scott T. Jones XcomUtil editor to combine both UFO and TFTD – download it at http://xcomutil.scotttjones.com/


End file.
